CVE-2011-3924 in iOS
Summary
by MITRE
Use-after-free vulnerability in Google Chrome before 16.0.912.77 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service or possibly have unspecified other impact via vectors related to DOM selections.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/13/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-3924 represents a critical use-after-free flaw in Google Chrome versions prior to 16.0.912.77 that enables remote attackers to exploit DOM selection mechanisms for malicious purposes. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-416 category of use-after-free conditions, where memory is accessed after it has been freed, creating potential for arbitrary code execution or system instability. The issue specifically affects the browser's handling of Document Object Model selections, which are fundamental components used for text manipulation and user interaction within web pages.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when Chrome processes certain DOM selection operations that trigger memory management issues in the browser's rendering engine. Attackers can craft malicious web pages that manipulate DOM selection objects in ways that cause the browser to free memory associated with these objects while still maintaining references to them. This memory corruption can lead to unpredictable behavior including application crashes, denial of service conditions, or potentially more severe consequences depending on the specific memory layout and exploitation techniques employed by threat actors.
The operational impact of CVE-2011-3924 extends beyond simple denial of service scenarios as the use-after-free condition creates opportunities for more sophisticated attacks within the browser environment. When the browser encounters malformed DOM selection data, the memory corruption can potentially be leveraged to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the browser process, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous in the context of modern web browsing where users frequently encounter untrusted content. The vulnerability affects the core browser functionality related to text selection and manipulation, which are commonly used features in web applications, increasing the attack surface and potential exploitation vectors.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate patching of affected Chrome versions to the secure release 16.0.912.77 or later, as this update contains the necessary memory management fixes for DOM selection handling. Organizations should implement comprehensive browser update policies and consider deploying automated patch management systems to ensure rapid deployment of security fixes. Additionally, browser hardening measures such as sandboxing, address space layout randomization, and heap metadata protection can provide additional defense-in-depth layers. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper memory management in browser engines and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.001 for command and script injection, as attackers may attempt to leverage such memory corruption vulnerabilities to execute malicious code within the browser context. Security teams should monitor for exploitation attempts through network traffic analysis and browser security logs to detect potential attacks targeting this specific vulnerability class.