CVE-2013-2864 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE
The PDF functionality in Google Chrome before 27.0.1453.110 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (invalid free operation) or possibly have unspecified other impact via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/14/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2013-2864 represents a critical flaw in Google Chrome's PDF rendering engine that existed prior to version 27.0.1453.110. This issue specifically targets the handling of PDF documents within the browser's embedded PDF viewer component, which is a widely used feature for displaying PDF files directly in the browser without requiring external plugins. The vulnerability manifests through improper memory management during PDF processing operations, creating potential attack vectors that could be exploited by malicious actors to compromise system stability and potentially execute arbitrary code.
The technical nature of this vulnerability involves an invalid free operation within the PDF parsing and rendering code path. When Chrome processes malformed or specially crafted PDF files, the memory management routines fail to properly handle memory deallocation operations, leading to memory corruption issues. This type of vulnerability falls under the CWE-415 category of double free errors or improper memory management, where the system attempts to free the same memory block multiple times or frees memory that has already been freed. The invalid free operation creates a condition where the memory allocator's internal data structures become corrupted, potentially leading to unpredictable behavior during subsequent memory operations.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to users who frequently access PDF documents through Chrome. Attackers could craft malicious PDF files designed to trigger the invalid free operation when opened in Chrome, resulting in either a denial of service condition that crashes the browser or potentially more severe impacts including arbitrary code execution. The remote nature of this attack means that users could be compromised simply by visiting a malicious website or opening a specially crafted PDF file sent as an email attachment. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond individual user systems to enterprise environments where PDF documents are commonly shared and accessed through web browsers.
The exploitation of this vulnerability aligns with several tactics described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework, particularly those related to initial access through malicious content and privilege escalation through memory corruption attacks. The attack surface is broad since PDF files are commonly encountered in web browsing, email communications, and document sharing platforms. Organizations should prioritize patch management to ensure all Chrome installations are updated to version 27.0.1453.110 or later, as this release contains the necessary fixes for the memory management issues. Additional mitigations include implementing web application firewalls, restricting PDF file access in high-security environments, and educating users about the risks of opening PDF files from untrusted sources. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of regular security assessments and penetration testing to identify similar memory corruption issues in other browser components and third-party libraries that may be susceptible to similar exploitation techniques.