CVE-2013-1447 in OpenJPEG
Summary
by MITRE
OpenJPEG 1.3 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption or crash) via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/11/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2013-1447 affects OpenJPEG version 1.3 and earlier, representing a critical denial of service weakness that can be exploited remotely by attackers to consume excessive system resources or trigger application crashes. This flaw exists within the OpenJPEG library implementation, which is widely used for handling jpeg2000 image format processing across various software applications and systems. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and memory management practices within the library's parsing routines for jpeg2000 files, creating opportunities for malicious actors to craft specially formatted payloads that exploit memory handling inconsistencies.
The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-129, which addresses improper validation of array indices, and CWE-772, covering missing release of resource upon exceptional exit conditions. Attackers can leverage this weakness by sending malicious jpeg2000 files to systems that utilize OpenJPEG for image processing, causing the application to allocate excessive memory or enter unstable states that result in crashes. The memory consumption patterns typically manifest through recursive or iterative processing of malformed image headers that trigger unbounded memory allocation, while crash conditions often arise from buffer overflows or invalid memory access patterns during image decompression operations. These vectors are particularly dangerous because they can be exploited through common image processing workflows without requiring special privileges or complex attack chains.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to systems that process user-uploaded images or handle third-party jpeg2000 content, including web applications, image processing servers, and multimedia platforms. The impact extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially enable more sophisticated attacks when combined with other vulnerabilities, as demonstrated by ATT&CK technique T1499.100, which covers resource exhaustion attacks. Systems utilizing vulnerable versions of OpenJPEG may experience complete service unavailability, leading to business disruption and potential data loss, especially in environments where continuous availability is critical. The remote exploitation capability means that attackers can target systems from outside the network perimeter, making this vulnerability particularly concerning for publicly accessible services.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2013-1447 should prioritize immediate patching of affected OpenJPEG installations to versions 1.4 or later where the memory handling issues have been resolved. Organizations should implement input validation controls at application boundaries to filter potentially malicious image files before they reach the OpenJPEG library processing layer, utilizing techniques consistent with ATT&CK tactic TA0005, which covers privilege escalation through input validation. Network-level protections such as content filtering and image sanitization proxies can provide additional defense-in-depth measures. System administrators should also consider implementing memory limits and process monitoring to detect and terminate abnormal memory consumption patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify other potentially affected components that might utilize the vulnerable OpenJPEG library, ensuring comprehensive protection against similar memory-related vulnerabilities.