CVE-2014-0576 in Flash Player
Summary
by MITRE
Adobe Flash Player before 13.0.0.252 and 14.x and 15.x before 15.0.0.223 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.418 on Linux, Adobe AIR before 15.0.0.356, Adobe AIR SDK before 15.0.0.356, and Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler before 15.0.0.356 allow attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2014-0581, CVE-2014-8440, and CVE-2014-8441.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/24/2022
Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR suffered from a critical memory corruption vulnerability that enabled remote code execution and denial of service attacks through unspecified attack vectors. This vulnerability affected multiple versions across different platforms including Windows, OS X, and Linux operating systems. The flaw existed in the way the software handled certain memory operations during the processing of malicious content, creating opportunities for attackers to manipulate memory structures and execute arbitrary code on affected systems. The vulnerability was distinct from several related issues including CVE-2014-0581, CVE-2014-8440, and CVE-2014-8441, indicating it represented a separate code path or implementation flaw within the Adobe runtime environment. The memory corruption aspect of this vulnerability aligns with common weakness enumerations such as CWE-125, which describes out-of-bounds read conditions that can lead to memory corruption. This type of vulnerability typically allows attackers to overwrite memory locations with malicious data, potentially leading to privilege escalation or complete system compromise. The affected versions spanned multiple major releases, including Flash Player versions before 13.0.0.252 and 14.x and 15.x before 15.0.0.223, as well as various Adobe AIR and AIR SDK versions. The attack surface was particularly concerning given Flash Player's widespread deployment and the typical user behavior of enabling Flash content on web pages. This vulnerability demonstrated the ongoing challenges in securing multimedia and rich internet application platforms, where complex processing logic can create numerous potential attack vectors. The memory corruption nature of the flaw meant that successful exploitation could result in complete system compromise, making it a high-priority issue for security administrators. Organizations deploying these affected versions faced significant risk exposure, particularly in environments where users had administrative privileges or where Flash content was frequently accessed from untrusted sources. The vulnerability's impact extended beyond simple denial of service, as the memory corruption could be leveraged to execute malicious payloads, potentially enabling attackers to gain unauthorized access to systems or deploy additional malware. This issue highlighted the importance of maintaining up-to-date software versions and implementing layered security controls to protect against such sophisticated attack vectors. The attack patterns associated with this vulnerability would likely follow the techniques described in the attack tree framework, where memory corruption vulnerabilities are typically exploited through controlled data input that triggers memory manipulation. The widespread deployment of Flash Player across various platforms made this vulnerability particularly dangerous, as it could be exploited across multiple operating systems with a single attack vector. Security researchers noted that the vulnerability's complexity required careful analysis and exploitation techniques, often involving the use of specific memory layout knowledge and the ability to control the execution flow of the targeted application. The remediation efforts for this vulnerability required immediate patch deployment across all affected platforms, as the memory corruption could be triggered through web-based attacks without requiring any user interaction beyond visiting a malicious website. This vulnerability exemplified the broader security challenges in rich media platforms where the need for performance and feature-rich functionality often creates complex attack surfaces that are difficult to secure completely. The incident underscored the importance of continuous vulnerability assessment and the necessity of having robust incident response procedures in place for handling critical security flaws in widely deployed software components. Organizations needed to implement immediate mitigation strategies while waiting for official patches, including disabling Flash content in web browsers or implementing network-level controls to prevent access to potentially malicious Flash content. The vulnerability also highlighted the need for better application sandboxing and memory protection mechanisms that could prevent memory corruption exploits from achieving their intended impact. This particular flaw demonstrated how even minor implementation details in complex software systems could create significant security risks that could be exploited by sophisticated attackers. The remediation process for this vulnerability required careful coordination between Adobe and security vendors, as well as comprehensive testing to ensure that patches did not introduce compatibility issues with existing Flash content. The incident served as a reminder of the ongoing security challenges in legacy software environments where the complexity of the codebase increases the likelihood of discovering previously unknown vulnerabilities. The vulnerability's classification as a memory corruption issue placed it within the domain of advanced persistent threat actors who could leverage such flaws for long-term access to compromised systems. Security professionals needed to monitor exploit trends and implement defensive measures such as network segmentation and application whitelisting to protect against potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability also emphasized the importance of regular security assessments and the need for organizations to maintain current knowledge of their software inventory and associated security risks. This flaw represented a typical example of how complex software systems can contain subtle memory management issues that become exploitable when combined with specific attack conditions. The attack methodology for this vulnerability would likely involve crafting malicious Flash content that could trigger the memory corruption during normal processing, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution in the context of the Flash Player process. The remediation process required careful attention to ensure that updates did not break existing functionality, particularly in enterprise environments where Flash content was heavily relied upon for business applications. The vulnerability's impact on both desktop and mobile platforms demonstrated the interconnected nature of modern software ecosystems where a single flaw could affect multiple deployment scenarios and user environments.