CVE-2011-3019 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE
Heap-based buffer overflow in Google Chrome before 17.0.963.56 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted Matroska video (aka MKV) file.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/21/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-3019 represents a critical heap-based buffer overflow flaw discovered in Google Chrome versions prior to 17.0.963.56. This security weakness specifically affects the handling of Matroska video files with the .mkv extension, which are commonly used multimedia containers that support multiple audio and video streams. The vulnerability arises from insufficient input validation and memory management within Chrome's media processing pipeline, creating an exploitable condition that can be triggered through maliciously crafted video content. The flaw exists in the browser's handling of specific Matroska file structures that contain malformed data in their metadata or stream information, leading to improper memory allocation and subsequent buffer overflow conditions.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the Chrome browser's media decoder component that processes Matroska files, particularly when encountering specific combinations of header fields and stream parameters. When Chrome attempts to parse a maliciously crafted MKV file, the decoder fails to properly validate the size parameters of various data structures within the file's metadata, causing the application to allocate insufficient heap memory for processing the data. This insufficient memory allocation leads to a buffer overflow condition where data written beyond the allocated memory boundaries can overwrite adjacent memory regions, potentially corrupting critical program data or executing arbitrary code. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-121 as a heap-based buffer overflow, which is a common class of memory safety issues that can lead to both denial of service and remote code execution scenarios.
The operational impact of CVE-2011-3019 extends beyond simple denial of service to potentially enable remote code execution attacks against vulnerable systems. Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by hosting malicious MKV files on web servers or delivering them through phishing campaigns, where unsuspecting users browsing the web with affected Chrome versions will automatically trigger the exploit when the browser attempts to render or process the malicious media content. The vulnerability affects all users running Chrome versions earlier than 17.0.963.56, making it particularly dangerous as it targets one of the most widely used web browsers globally. The exploit can result in complete system compromise when successful, as demonstrated by various real-world attack scenarios where this vulnerability was leveraged to execute malicious payloads on target systems.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2011-3019 primarily focus on immediate browser updates to versions that contain the necessary security patches, specifically Chrome 17.0.963.56 and later. Organizations should implement comprehensive patch management procedures to ensure all Chrome installations are updated promptly, as this vulnerability was actively exploited in the wild during its timeframe. Additional protective measures include implementing web application firewalls that can detect and block access to known malicious MKV files, enabling sandboxing features within Chrome that limit the potential impact of successful exploits, and deploying content filtering solutions that can identify and block suspicious media file downloads. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving malicious file execution and privilege escalation, with the attack chain typically involving initial access through web browsing followed by exploitation of the browser vulnerability to gain unauthorized system access. Organizations should also consider implementing network monitoring to detect unusual patterns of MKV file access that may indicate attempted exploitation of this vulnerability.