CVE-2012-0695 in Cr-48 Chromebook
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple unspecified vulnerabilities in Google Chrome before 17.0.963.27 on the Acer AC700, Samsung Series 5, and Cr-48 Chromebook platforms have unknown impact and attack vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/26/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2012-0695 represents a critical security weakness affecting Google Chrome versions prior to 17.0.963.27 on specific hardware platforms including the Acer AC700, Samsung Series 5, and Cr-48 Chromebook devices. This issue falls under the category of unspecified vulnerabilities, indicating that the exact nature and scope of the security flaws remain partially unknown or not fully documented in the initial disclosure. The affected platforms represent early-generation Chromebooks and netbooks that were popular during the 2011-2012 timeframe when Chrome OS was rapidly expanding into consumer and enterprise markets. These devices typically ran Chrome OS with limited hardware security features compared to modern platforms, making them particularly susceptible to exploitation of browser-based vulnerabilities. The vulnerability specifically targets the Chrome browser implementation on these hardware configurations, suggesting that the underlying security mechanisms may have been insufficiently hardened against certain attack vectors that could leverage browser execution contexts.
The technical flaw underlying CVE-2012-0695 appears to stem from implementation weaknesses within Chrome's rendering engine or memory management systems that could potentially allow attackers to execute arbitrary code or manipulate browser behavior on the affected devices. Given that these are Chromebook platforms, the vulnerability likely involves memory corruption issues, heap overflow conditions, or other low-level execution flaws that could be exploited through crafted web content or malicious websites. The unspecified nature of the impact suggests that the vulnerability may have multiple attack surfaces or could potentially be leveraged for various types of exploitation including privilege escalation, information disclosure, or denial of service conditions. This type of vulnerability would typically be categorized under CWE-119 which encompasses weaknesses related to the use of untrusted input in memory operations, or potentially CWE-787 which deals with out-of-bounds write operations.
The operational impact of CVE-2012-0695 on the affected Chromebook platforms represents a significant security risk for users who were relying on these devices for web-based activities and cloud computing tasks. The vulnerability could enable attackers to compromise user sessions, access sensitive data stored locally or remotely, or potentially gain persistent access to the affected devices. Given that Chromebooks were designed for ease of use and often lacked robust security features beyond the browser itself, the exploitation of such vulnerabilities could lead to complete device compromise. The attack vectors for this vulnerability would likely involve social engineering campaigns targeting users to visit malicious websites or download compromised content, with the exploitation occurring entirely within the browser context. This vulnerability would be particularly concerning for enterprise deployments where Chromebooks were being used for business applications and sensitive data processing.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2012-0695 should prioritize immediate patching of affected Chrome browser versions to 17.0.963.27 or later, which would contain the identified vulnerabilities through code updates and security improvements. Organizations should implement strict browser update policies and ensure that all Chromebook devices receive security patches promptly. Network-based mitigations including web content filtering and security proxies can help reduce the risk of exploitation by blocking access to known malicious domains or content. Additionally, users should be educated about the importance of avoiding untrusted websites and suspicious email attachments, as these remain primary attack vectors for browser-based exploits. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability would map to techniques involving exploitation of known vulnerabilities and privilege escalation, with potential use of techniques such as T1190 for exploitation of remote services and T1068 for local privilege escalation. Organizations should also consider implementing device monitoring solutions that can detect anomalous behavior patterns consistent with exploitation attempts on these vulnerable platforms. The remediation process should include comprehensive security assessments of all affected devices and implementation of additional security controls such as sandboxing enhancements and memory protection mechanisms that were improved in subsequent Chrome releases.