CVE-2015-0305 in Flash Player
Summary
by MITRE
Adobe Flash Player before 13.0.0.260 and 14.x through 16.x before 16.0.0.257 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.429 on Linux, Adobe AIR before 16.0.0.245 on Windows and OS X and before 16.0.0.272 on Android, Adobe AIR SDK before 16.0.0.272, and Adobe AIR SDK & Compiler before 16.0.0.272 allow attackers to execute arbitrary code by leveraging an unspecified "type confusion."
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/02/2022
Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR suffered from a critical type confusion vulnerability that enabled remote code execution attacks. This vulnerability affected multiple product versions across different operating systems and platforms, with specific affected versions including Flash Player before 13.0.0.260 and 14.x through 16.x before 16.0.0.257 on Windows and OS X, Flash Player before 11.2.202.429 on Linux, Adobe AIR before 16.0.0.245 on Windows and OS X, Adobe AIR before 16.0.0.272 on Android, and various Adobe AIR SDK versions. The vulnerability stems from a type confusion flaw in the Flash Player and AIR runtime environments, where the software incorrectly handles object types during runtime operations, leading to memory corruption conditions.
The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-476, which describes null pointer dereference conditions, and CWE-121, which covers stack-based buffer overflow conditions. Attackers could exploit this type confusion by crafting malicious Flash content that would cause the application to treat data as objects of incorrect types, potentially leading to memory corruption and arbitrary code execution. The flaw typically occurs when the runtime environment fails to properly validate type information during object manipulation, allowing attackers to manipulate object pointers and execute malicious code with the privileges of the Flash Player or AIR application.
The operational impact of this vulnerability was severe as it allowed attackers to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable systems without user interaction, making it particularly dangerous for web-based attacks. The vulnerability was actively exploited in the wild, with threat actors leveraging it to deliver malware payloads, establish backdoors, and conduct further attacks on compromised systems. The widespread use of Flash Player across different platforms and operating systems meant that organizations needed to urgently patch affected systems to prevent exploitation. This vulnerability demonstrated the risks associated with legacy software components and highlighted the importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches for multimedia frameworks.
Organizations should implement immediate patch management procedures to update all affected versions of Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR to their latest secure releases. Security teams should also deploy network-based intrusion detection systems to monitor for exploitation attempts and consider implementing application whitelisting controls to prevent execution of untrusted Flash content. The vulnerability exemplifies ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for Windows Command Shell and T1059.006 for PowerShell, where attackers could leverage the compromised Flash runtime to execute malicious commands. Additionally, implementing sandboxing mechanisms and restricting Flash Player permissions in web browsers would significantly reduce the attack surface and potential impact of such exploits.