CVE-2015-5120 in Shockwave Player
Summary
by MITRE
Adobe Shockwave Player before 12.1.9.159 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-5121.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/01/2022
Adobe Shockwave Player version 12.1.9.159 and earlier contains a memory corruption vulnerability that enables remote code execution or denial of service attacks through unspecified attack vectors. This vulnerability represents a distinct security flaw from CVE-2015-5121, indicating separate code paths or components within the software that are susceptible to exploitation. The memory corruption issue typically arises from improper handling of user-supplied data or malformed input within the Shockwave Player's processing routines, potentially leading to heap overflow conditions, buffer overflows, or other memory management errors that can be leveraged by malicious actors to execute arbitrary code on affected systems.
The technical nature of this vulnerability places it within the realm of memory safety issues that are commonly categorized under CWE-121, which deals with stack buffer overflow conditions, or CWE-122, which addresses heap buffer overflow scenarios. Attackers can potentially craft malicious Shockwave content or web pages that, when loaded through the vulnerable Shockwave Player, trigger the memory corruption flaw. This exploitation could result in the execution of malicious code with the privileges of the affected user or cause the application to crash, leading to denial of service conditions. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple code execution as it can potentially allow attackers to gain unauthorized access to systems, escalate privileges, or establish persistent access through the compromised Shockwave Player component.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to organizations that continue to use legacy Shockwave Player installations, particularly in enterprise environments where older web content or multimedia applications may still rely on this technology. The attack surface is broad as Shockwave content can be delivered through various web platforms, email attachments, or malicious websites, making it a potentially widespread threat vector. Organizations that have not migrated away from Shockwave-based applications face increased exposure, as the vulnerability can be exploited through standard web browsing activities without requiring specialized knowledge or tools from attackers. The persistent nature of this vulnerability means that even systems with proper patch management may remain at risk if they continue to operate legacy Shockwave Player versions.
Mitigation strategies should prioritize immediate patch deployment to update Shockwave Player to version 12.1.9.159 or later, which contains fixes for this memory corruption vulnerability. Organizations should implement network segmentation and web filtering to restrict access to potentially malicious Shockwave content while also considering complete deprecation of Shockwave Player usage in favor of modern, more secure multimedia technologies. Security monitoring should include detection of attempts to load Shockwave content from untrusted sources, and incident response procedures should be updated to address potential exploitation attempts. Additionally, implementing application whitelisting policies that restrict Shockwave Player execution to trusted environments can provide an additional layer of protection. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of maintaining up-to-date multimedia player software and highlights the risks associated with continuing to support legacy technologies that may contain unpatched security flaws. Organizations should also consider implementing the principle of least privilege for Shockwave Player installations and ensure that automatic updates are enabled to maintain protection against future vulnerabilities.