CVE-2011-2885 in Lotus Symphony
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Lotus Symphony 3 before FP3 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via the sample .doc document that incorporates a user-defined toolbar.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/15/2021
IBM Lotus Symphony 3 before Fix Pack 3 contains a vulnerability that enables remote attackers to trigger a denial of service condition through crafted malicious documents. This vulnerability specifically manifests when the application processes a sample .doc document that includes a user-defined toolbar configuration. The flaw resides in the document parsing mechanism where Symphony fails to properly validate or sanitize toolbar definitions within Microsoft Word compatible documents. When the application attempts to render or process the toolbar component of such documents, it encounters malformed data that causes the application to crash and terminate unexpectedly. This behavior represents a classic buffer overflow or memory corruption issue that occurs during document parsing operations, where insufficient input validation leads to application instability. The vulnerability falls under the CWE-125 vulnerability class, which describes out-of-bounds read conditions that can lead to application crashes and potential code execution. From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risk to organizations that rely on Lotus Symphony for document processing, as attackers could exploit this weakness to disrupt business operations through targeted denial of service attacks. The attack vector is particularly concerning because it requires no authentication or specialized privileges beyond the ability to deliver a malicious document to a target system. The impact extends beyond simple application crashes as it can be leveraged in broader attack scenarios where sustained denial of service could affect productivity and business continuity. Organizations using Lotus Symphony in enterprise environments may find this vulnerability particularly dangerous as it could be exploited through email attachments or document sharing platforms. The vulnerability demonstrates poor input validation practices in document processing applications, where the software fails to properly handle malformed data structures that are commonly found in legacy document formats. Security professionals should note that this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004 which covers network denial of service attacks through application-level vulnerabilities. The weakness in Symphony's document parsing engine highlights the importance of robust input sanitization and proper error handling in office productivity software. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the available fix pack 3 update from IBM, implementing document filtering policies, and restricting document sharing from untrusted sources. The vulnerability also underscores the broader challenge of maintaining security in legacy office applications that continue to process complex document formats. Additionally, this issue demonstrates how seemingly benign features like toolbar customization can become attack vectors when proper input validation is lacking. The vulnerability represents a fundamental flaw in the application's defensive programming practices and emphasizes the critical need for comprehensive security testing of document processing components in enterprise software. Organizations should also consider implementing network segmentation and monitoring for unusual application crash patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts.