CVE-2012-5286 in Flash Player
Summary
by MITRE
Buffer overflow in Adobe Flash Player before 10.3.183.29 and 11.x before 11.4.402.287 on Windows and Mac OS X, before 10.3.183.29 and 11.x before 11.2.202.243 on Linux, before 11.1.111.19 on Android 2.x and 3.x, and before 11.1.115.20 on Android 4.x; Adobe AIR before 3.4.0.2710; and Adobe AIR SDK before 3.4.0.2710 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than other Flash Player buffer overflow CVEs listed in APSB12-22.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/29/2024
Adobe Flash Player suffered from a critical buffer overflow vulnerability that affected multiple platform versions across Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and various Android versions. This vulnerability existed in Flash Player versions prior to 10.3.183.29 for Windows and Mac OS X, 10.3.183.29 for Linux, 11.4.402.287 for Windows and Mac OS X, 11.2.202.243 for Linux, 11.1.111.19 for Android 2.x and 3.x, and 11.1.115.20 for Android 4.x. Additionally, Adobe AIR versions before 3.4.0.2710 and Adobe AIR SDK versions before 3.4.0.2710 were also impacted by this flaw. The vulnerability allowed remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected systems through unspecified attack vectors, making it a significant threat to enterprise and individual users alike. This particular buffer overflow represented a distinct vulnerability from other Flash Player issues documented in Adobe's Advisory APSB12-22, indicating a separate code flaw that required specific remediation measures.
The technical nature of this buffer overflow vulnerability stems from improper bounds checking within Flash Player's handling of certain data structures, particularly those related to multimedia content processing and memory management. The flaw typically occurred when the application attempted to write data beyond the allocated buffer space, creating potential for memory corruption that could be exploited to gain control over the affected system. Attackers could craft malicious Flash content that would trigger the overflow condition when processed by the vulnerable software, potentially leading to complete system compromise. The vulnerability's exploitation required no user interaction beyond visiting a malicious webpage or opening a specially crafted Flash file, making it particularly dangerous in phishing campaigns and drive-by download attacks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extended across multiple computing environments and platforms, affecting users who relied on Adobe Flash Player for multimedia content delivery across different operating systems. Organizations running legacy systems with older Flash Player versions faced significant risk exposure, as the vulnerability could be leveraged for persistent threats including data exfiltration, system reconnaissance, and establishment of backdoor access. The cross-platform nature of the vulnerability meant that security teams had to implement coordinated patching strategies across Windows, Mac, Linux, and mobile environments, creating operational complexity for IT departments managing diverse technology stacks. The affected versions spanned several major releases, indicating that this was not an isolated incident but rather a systemic issue within Flash Player's architecture that required comprehensive remediation efforts.
Security mitigations for this vulnerability required immediate patch deployment across all affected platforms and versions, with organizations prioritizing the update of Adobe Flash Player installations to the patched versions. System administrators should have implemented network segmentation and web filtering measures to prevent access to known malicious Flash content while patches were being deployed. The vulnerability's classification under CWE-121, which addresses 'Stack-based Buffer Overflow', indicates that the flaw involved improper handling of stack memory allocation, requiring careful code review and memory management practices. Organizations should have also implemented the ATT&CK framework's mitigation strategies, particularly focusing on preventing malicious code execution through application control measures and endpoint detection capabilities. Additionally, security teams needed to monitor for exploitation attempts through network traffic analysis and log review processes, as the vulnerability's exploitation could be detected through anomalous behavior patterns in system calls and memory access patterns.