CVE-2015-3049 in Acrobat Reader
Summary
by MITRE
Adobe Reader and Acrobat 10.x before 10.1.14 and 11.x before 11.0.11 on Windows and OS X allow attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2014-9161, CVE-2015-3046, CVE-2015-3050, CVE-2015-3051, CVE-2015-3052, CVE-2015-3056, CVE-2015-3057, CVE-2015-3070, and CVE-2015-3076.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/10/2022
Adobe Reader and Acrobat versions 10.x prior to 10.1.14 and 11.x prior to 11.0.11 contain a memory corruption vulnerability that enables remote code execution or denial of service attacks on both Windows and macOS operating systems. This vulnerability represents a distinct security flaw from several other reported issues in the same timeframe, indicating a separate code path or implementation error within the affected software components. The unspecified attack vectors suggest that multiple exploitation techniques could potentially trigger the memory corruption, making the vulnerability particularly concerning for security professionals and system administrators who must account for various potential attack surfaces.
The technical nature of this vulnerability manifests as memory corruption, which typically occurs when an application writes data to memory locations it should not access or when it fails to properly validate input data. Memory corruption vulnerabilities are particularly dangerous because they can lead to arbitrary code execution when attackers can manipulate the corrupted memory to redirect program execution flow. The vulnerability affects the core rendering and processing capabilities of PDF documents within Adobe Reader and Acrobat, making it a critical issue for organizations that rely heavily on PDF document processing and viewing. This type of vulnerability often stems from improper handling of malformed or maliciously crafted PDF files that contain specially crafted data structures designed to exploit memory management flaws in the application's parsing routines.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple denial of service conditions to potentially enable full system compromise when exploited successfully. Attackers could craft malicious PDF documents that, when opened by an affected version of Adobe Reader or Acrobat, would trigger memory corruption and allow for remote code execution. This capability would enable attackers to execute arbitrary commands on affected systems, potentially leading to complete system compromise, data exfiltration, or establishment of persistent backdoors. Organizations relying on PDF document sharing and viewing would be particularly vulnerable, as the attack vector could be as simple as opening a malicious email attachment or visiting a compromised website that serves the malicious PDF file. The vulnerability affects both Windows and macOS platforms, indicating a cross-platform issue in the Adobe software implementation that requires comprehensive remediation across all supported operating systems.
Security mitigations for this vulnerability should include immediate deployment of patches provided by Adobe to update to versions 10.1.14 or 11.0.11 respectively, along with implementation of additional protective measures such as restricting PDF file handling capabilities in email clients and web browsers, implementing application whitelisting policies, and using sandboxing techniques to limit potential damage from exploitation attempts. Organizations should also consider network-based protections such as intrusion prevention systems that can detect and block known malicious PDF file patterns. From a compliance perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-121, which describes stack-based buffer overflow conditions, and may also relate to CWE-122, heap-based buffer overflow conditions, depending on the specific memory corruption mechanism. The attack patterns associated with this vulnerability map to ATT&CK techniques including T1203, Exploitation for Client Execution, and T1059, Command and Scripting Interpreter, as attackers would need to leverage the initial execution vulnerability to gain system access and then potentially execute additional commands or scripts on the compromised system.