CVE-2017-11298 in Digital Editions
Summary
by MITRE
An issue was discovered in Adobe Digital Editions 4.5.6 and earlier versions. An exploitable memory corruption vulnerability exists, which could lead to disclosure of memory addresses.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/26/2021
Adobe Digital Editions versions 4.5.6 and earlier contain a memory corruption vulnerability that presents significant security risks to users and systems. This flaw resides in the application's handling of malformed input data, specifically within the processing of digital content files. The vulnerability stems from inadequate bounds checking and memory management practices during file parsing operations, creating opportunities for attackers to manipulate memory structures through crafted input. The issue manifests as a memory corruption condition that can result in the exposure of sensitive memory addresses, potentially enabling further exploitation techniques.
The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with common software security flaws categorized under CWE-121, which deals with stack-based buffer overflow conditions. The memory corruption occurs when the application processes specially crafted digital content files that exceed expected buffer sizes or contain malformed data structures. This particular flaw represents a type of heap-based memory corruption that can be exploited to disclose memory addresses, which serves as a critical information leak for attackers planning more sophisticated attacks. The vulnerability's exploitation potential increases significantly when combined with other techniques that can leverage the disclosed addresses for bypassing security mechanisms like address space layout randomization.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as it creates a foundation for more severe security breaches. Memory address disclosure can enable attackers to bypass modern exploit mitigations such as stack canaries, ASLR protections, and DEP mechanisms by providing knowledge of memory layout structures. This information leakage can be particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where Adobe Digital Editions might be used to process sensitive documents. The vulnerability affects not only individual users but also organizations that rely on the application for document management and digital content distribution, potentially exposing confidential data processing systems to unauthorized access.
Mitigation strategies should focus on immediate remediation through official Adobe patches and updates, as the vendor has released security fixes addressing this specific memory corruption issue. Organizations should implement strict content validation policies and restrict the processing of untrusted digital content files within their environments. Network-level controls such as content filtering and sandboxing mechanisms can provide additional protection layers. Security teams should also monitor for indicators of compromise related to this vulnerability and consider implementing memory protection techniques like heap spraying prevention and enhanced input validation. The vulnerability's classification under ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for command and scripting interpreter suggests that attackers might leverage this memory disclosure for executing malicious payloads through compromised applications, making comprehensive monitoring essential for early detection and response.