CVE-2011-3073 in iOS
Summary
by MITRE
Use-after-free vulnerability in Google Chrome before 18.0.1025.151 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service or possibly have unspecified other impact via vectors related to the handling of SVG resources.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/07/2025
The CVE-2011-3073 vulnerability represents a critical use-after-free flaw in Google Chrome versions prior to 18.0.1025.151 that specifically targets the browser's handling of Scalable Vector Graphics resources. This type of vulnerability occurs when a program continues to reference memory that has already been freed, creating a dangerous condition that can be exploited by remote attackers to manipulate memory contents or cause unpredictable behavior. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it affects the core rendering engine's processing of SVG elements, which are commonly used in web applications and can be embedded directly within HTML documents.
The technical exploitation of this use-after-free vulnerability involves crafting malicious SVG content that triggers improper memory management during the parsing and rendering process. When Chrome processes such malformed SVG resources, the application's memory allocator may free certain memory regions while the rendering engine still maintains references to those locations. Attackers can leverage this condition to either cause a denial of service through application crashes or potentially execute arbitrary code by controlling the memory layout and overwriting critical program structures. This vulnerability specifically relates to how Chrome handles the lifecycle management of SVG objects and their associated memory structures during the document object model processing phase.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risk to users browsing the web, as SVG content is widely used in modern web applications, graphics, and web design elements. The remote attack vector means that users can be compromised simply by visiting a malicious website or viewing an embedded SVG element, without requiring any user interaction beyond normal browsing behavior. The potential impact extends beyond simple denial of service to include possible code execution, which could allow attackers to gain unauthorized access to user systems, steal sensitive information, or deploy additional malicious payloads. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of keeping web browsers updated, as the flaw existed in versions that were widely distributed and used by millions of users.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-416, which describes the use of freed memory condition, and represents a classic example of improper memory management in web browser rendering engines. From an attacker's perspective, this vulnerability maps to multiple ATT&CK techniques including T1059 for code execution and T1499 for denial of service operations. The remediation strategy focuses on immediate patching of affected Chrome versions, with the specific fix released in Chrome 18.0.1025.151 addressing the memory management issues in SVG processing. Organizations should implement comprehensive patch management procedures and consider deploying web application firewalls or content filtering solutions as additional defensive measures to mitigate exposure to similar vulnerabilities in other browser components or web technologies.