CVE-2012-2023 in Illustrator
Summary
by MITRE
Adobe Illustrator before CS6 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2012-0780, CVE-2012-2024, CVE-2012-2025, and CVE-2012-2026.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/24/2021
Adobe Illustrator versions prior to CS6 contain a critical memory corruption vulnerability that enables remote code execution or denial of service attacks through unspecified attack vectors. This vulnerability represents a distinct security flaw from other related issues within the same year, indicating a separate code path or implementation error that affects the application's memory management systems. The unspecified nature of the attack vectors suggests that multiple pathways exist for exploitation, potentially including malformed file parsing or improper input validation during document processing operations.
The memory corruption aspect of this vulnerability stems from inadequate bounds checking and memory handling mechanisms within Illustrator's core rendering and file parsing components. When processing maliciously crafted input files, the application fails to properly validate memory allocations and deallocations, leading to potential buffer overflows, heap corruption, or use-after-free conditions. These memory management failures create opportunities for attackers to inject malicious code into the application's memory space or manipulate program execution flow. The vulnerability's classification as a memory corruption issue aligns with common attack patterns documented in the attack tree model where memory corruption represents a foundational weakness that enables higher-level exploits.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risk to users who regularly process external design files or collaborate with untrusted sources. The ability to execute arbitrary code remotely means that attackers could gain full system control without user interaction, particularly when Illustrator is used to open files from web sources, email attachments, or shared networks. The denial of service component further compounds the risk by allowing attackers to crash the application repeatedly, disrupting creative workflows and potentially causing data loss. Organizations relying on Illustrator for professional design work face potential business disruption and security breaches, especially in environments where design files are frequently exchanged between multiple parties.
Security mitigations for this vulnerability should include immediate application updates to Adobe Illustrator CS6 or later versions where the memory corruption issues have been addressed through improved input validation and memory management practices. System administrators should implement network segmentation and file validation controls to prevent automatic execution of potentially malicious design files. The mitigation approach aligns with defense-in-depth strategies recommended in nist cybersecurity framework and follows the principle of least privilege by restricting user permissions when processing external files. Additionally, regular security assessments and penetration testing should verify that the patched version properly handles all known file formats and edge cases that could trigger similar memory corruption conditions, ensuring comprehensive protection against similar vulnerabilities that may emerge in related software components.