CVE-2017-16407 in Acrobat Reader
Summary
by MITRE
An issue was discovered in Adobe Acrobat and Reader: 2017.012.20098 and earlier versions, 2017.011.30066 and earlier versions, 2015.006.30355 and earlier versions, and 11.0.22 and earlier versions. The vulnerability is caused by a computation that writes data past the end of the intended buffer; the computation is part of handling an EMF EMR_BITBLT record. The vulnerability is a result of an out of range pointer offset that is used to access sub-elements of an internal data structure. An attacker can potentially leverage the vulnerability to corrupt sensitive data or execute arbitrary code.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/03/2024
This vulnerability exists in Adobe Acrobat and Reader across multiple version ranges including 2017.012.20098 and earlier, 2017.011.30066 and earlier, 2015.006.30355 and earlier, and 11.0.22 and earlier versions. The flaw manifests during processing of EMF EMR_BITBLT records which are part of the Windows Enhanced Metafile format used for graphics rendering. The core issue stems from improper buffer boundary calculations that lead to memory corruption when handling graphics data. This represents a classic out-of-bounds memory access vulnerability that allows attackers to manipulate memory locations beyond the intended buffer boundaries. The vulnerability specifically occurs in the internal data structure handling where a pointer offset calculation results in accessing memory locations that are outside the allocated buffer space, creating a condition where arbitrary memory locations can be modified or accessed.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability follows a memory corruption pattern that aligns with CWE-121, which describes heap-based buffer overflow conditions. The flaw operates through a pointer arithmetic error that causes an out-of-range memory access during EMR_BITBLT record processing, potentially allowing for code execution or data corruption. The attacker can leverage this by crafting malicious EMF files that contain specially constructed EMR_BITBLT records, which when processed by the vulnerable software trigger the buffer overflow condition. This type of vulnerability falls under the ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for command and scripting interpreter and T1068 for exploit for privilege escalation, as successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the affected application.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple memory corruption as it provides a potential pathway for attackers to execute malicious code on target systems. When an attacker successfully exploits this vulnerability, they can potentially overwrite critical memory locations including function pointers, return addresses, or other control data structures within the application's memory space. This memory corruption can result in application crashes, denial of service conditions, or more critically, complete system compromise through arbitrary code execution. The vulnerability affects a widely used software application that processes various document formats, making it particularly dangerous as attackers can deliver malicious payloads through PDF documents or other files that trigger EMF graphics processing. The exploitability of this vulnerability increases significantly when users open or preview documents containing malicious graphics content, as the vulnerability is triggered during normal application operation rather than requiring special user interaction beyond document opening. Organizations should consider implementing application whitelisting policies and restricting the ability to process untrusted graphics content as part of their mitigation strategy against this class of vulnerability.