CVE-2017-11236 in Acrobat Reader
Summary
by MITRE
Adobe Acrobat Reader 2017.009.20058 and earlier, 2017.008.30051 and earlier, 2015.006.30306 and earlier, and 11.0.20 and earlier has an exploitable memory corruption vulnerability in the internal handling of UTF-16 literal strings. Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/30/2024
Adobe Acrobat Reader contains a critical memory corruption vulnerability in its handling of UTF-16 literal strings that affects multiple versions including 2017.009.20058 and earlier, 2017.008.30051 and earlier, 2015.006.30306 and earlier, and 11.0.20 and earlier. This vulnerability stems from improper validation and processing of UTF-16 encoded strings within the application's internal parsing mechanisms. The flaw occurs when the software encounters malformed UTF-16 literal strings during document processing, leading to memory corruption that can be exploited by malicious actors. The vulnerability is categorized under CWE-125 as an out-of-bounds read condition and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1203 for exploitation of memory corruption vulnerabilities. When exploited, this vulnerability allows attackers to execute arbitrary code on the target system with the privileges of the user running the application, potentially leading to full system compromise. The memory corruption manifests during the parsing of PDF documents that contain specially crafted UTF-16 encoded strings, which causes the application to write beyond allocated memory boundaries or corrupt adjacent memory regions. This type of vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it can be triggered through simple document opening, making it an attractive target for phishing attacks and social engineering campaigns. The exploitability of this vulnerability is enhanced by the fact that it affects multiple versions of the software, increasing the attack surface significantly. Security researchers have noted that the vulnerability can be leveraged to bypass modern exploit mitigations such as address space layout randomization and data execution protection. The impact extends beyond individual user systems as successful exploitation can lead to persistent backdoor access, data exfiltration, and lateral movement within network environments. Organizations should prioritize immediate patching of affected versions and implement network segmentation to limit the potential impact of exploitation attempts. Additional mitigations include disabling PDF preview features in email clients, implementing strict file type validation, and monitoring for unusual document processing behavior. The vulnerability represents a significant risk to enterprise environments where Acrobat Reader is widely deployed, as it provides attackers with a straightforward path to code execution through legitimate application usage patterns. This makes it particularly challenging to defend against through traditional network security measures alone. The flaw demonstrates the ongoing challenges in secure parsing of international character encodings and highlights the importance of robust input validation in enterprise software applications.