CVE-2015-7089 in QuickTime
Summary
by MITRE
Apple QuickTime before 7.7.9 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption and application crash) via a crafted movie file, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-7085, CVE-2015-7086, CVE-2015-7087, CVE-2015-7088, CVE-2015-7090, CVE-2015-7091, CVE-2015-7092, and CVE-2015-7117.
If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/02/2022
Apple QuickTime player versions prior to 7.7.9 contained a critical memory corruption vulnerability that enabled remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or induce denial of service conditions through maliciously crafted movie files. This vulnerability represents a classic heap-based buffer overflow scenario where improper input validation allowed attackers to manipulate memory layout during movie file parsing operations. The flaw specifically manifested when QuickTime processed malformed media containers or metadata fields within movie files, leading to unpredictable memory corruption patterns that could be leveraged for privilege escalation or system compromise. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and requires no user interaction beyond opening the malicious file, making it particularly dangerous in phishing campaigns or malicious email attachments. According to the Common Weakness Enumeration framework, this vulnerability maps to CWE-121, heap-based buffer overflow, which occurs when data is written beyond the boundaries of heap-allocated buffers. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this as a remote code execution technique through application input validation flaws, specifically targeting the execution of arbitrary code via crafted media files. The memory corruption aspects of this vulnerability can lead to application crashes or more severe system instability, as the corrupted memory regions may contain critical program control structures or data pointers. Attackers could exploit this by crafting movie files with oversized or malformed data structures that would cause QuickTime to allocate insufficient memory for processing, resulting in buffer overflows that overwrite adjacent memory segments. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple denial of service to potentially enabling full system compromise when combined with other exploitation techniques or when executed in environments with reduced security protections. This flaw highlights the inherent risks of multimedia processing libraries that handle untrusted input without proper bounds checking or memory safety mechanisms. Organizations using older QuickTime versions faced significant exposure since the vulnerability could be triggered through multiple attack vectors including web browsing, email attachments, and file downloads. The affected versions required immediate patching to prevent exploitation, as the vulnerability was actively being exploited in the wild. Security researchers noted that the flaw was particularly concerning due to QuickTime's widespread deployment across enterprise environments and the difficulty in completely isolating media file processing from other system components. The vulnerability's distinction from related CVEs demonstrates the complexity of multimedia security and the need for comprehensive input validation across all media processing components. This particular flaw emphasized the importance of maintaining up-to-date media frameworks and implementing robust sandboxing measures to contain potential exploitation attempts. Organizations needed to prioritize patch management for QuickTime components and consider alternative media players that offered better security guarantees. The vulnerability underscored the critical need for automated security testing of media processing components and the implementation of memory safety features such as stack canaries or address space layout randomization to mitigate exploitation success rates. Additionally, network segmentation and email filtering measures became essential defensive controls to limit the attack surface for this type of remote code execution vulnerability.