CVE-2014-9165 in Acrobat Reader
Summary
by MITRE
Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 10.x before 10.1.13 and 11.x before 11.0.10 on Windows and OS X allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2014-8454 and CVE-2014-8455.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/27/2022
The CVE-2014-9165 vulnerability represents a critical use-after-free flaw affecting Adobe Reader and Acrobat versions prior to 10.1.13 and 11.0.10 on both Windows and macOS operating systems. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-416 category, which specifically addresses use-after-free conditions where a program continues to reference memory after it has been freed, creating potential exploitation opportunities for malicious actors. The flaw manifests in the handling of unspecified vectors within the Adobe Acrobat processing pipeline, making it particularly challenging to predict and prevent without comprehensive analysis of the underlying memory management mechanisms.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when an attacker crafts malicious PDF content that triggers a specific sequence of memory operations within the Adobe Reader or Acrobat application. When the application processes this crafted content, it encounters a scenario where memory allocated for certain objects is freed while still being referenced by subsequent operations, leading to a state where attackers can manipulate the freed memory to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the affected application. This particular vulnerability differs from related issues CVE-2014-8454 and CVE-2014-8455, indicating that it operates through distinct code paths and memory management patterns, making it a unique threat vector within the Adobe Acrobat ecosystem.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to organizations relying on Adobe Reader and Acrobat for document processing and viewing. The ability to execute arbitrary code remotely through PDF files means that attackers can potentially compromise systems simply by opening malicious documents, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where document sharing is common. The vulnerability's presence in both Windows and macOS platforms expands its potential attack surface, requiring organizations to implement comprehensive patch management strategies across their entire computing infrastructure. Security professionals should consider this vulnerability in their risk assessments and incident response planning, as it aligns with the attack patterns documented in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the execution and privilege escalation domains.
The mitigation strategy for CVE-2014-9165 primarily involves applying the official patches released by Adobe, which address the underlying memory management issues in the affected software versions. Organizations should also implement additional protective measures including PDF content filtering, restricted browsing environments, and regular security assessments to prevent exploitation attempts. Network security teams should monitor for suspicious PDF-related traffic patterns and consider implementing sandboxing solutions for PDF processing to contain potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability underscores the importance of maintaining up-to-date software versions and highlights the critical nature of timely patch deployment in preventing exploitation of memory corruption vulnerabilities that can lead to complete system compromise.