CVE-2017-3029 in Acrobat Reader
Summary
by MITRE
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 11.0.19 and earlier, 15.006.30280 and earlier, 15.023.20070 and earlier have a memory address leak vulnerability when handling a JPEG 2000 code-stream.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/29/2020
Adobe Acrobat Reader contains a memory address leak vulnerability in its handling of JPEG 2000 code-streams that affects multiple version ranges including 11.0.19 and earlier, 15.006.30280 and earlier, and 15.023.20070 and earlier. This vulnerability falls under the category of information disclosure flaws and represents a classic memory corruption issue that can potentially expose sensitive memory addresses to attackers. The flaw occurs during the processing of JPEG 2000 image data structures, where the application fails to properly validate or sanitize memory references when parsing the code-stream format. This memory address leak can provide attackers with information about the application's memory layout, which is particularly concerning as it may enable more sophisticated attacks such as heap spraying or other exploitation techniques. The vulnerability is classified as a CWE-200 Information Exposure, which is a well-documented weakness in software security where sensitive information is inadvertently exposed to unauthorized parties. The attack surface is primarily through maliciously crafted PDF documents containing specially formatted JPEG 2000 images that trigger the vulnerable code path during document rendering. When a user opens a malicious PDF, the application processes the JPEG 2000 data and inadvertently leaks memory addresses through the parsing mechanism. This type of vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it can serve as a stepping stone for more advanced exploitation techniques and may reveal information about the target system's memory management. The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure as it can facilitate privilege escalation attacks or other exploitation vectors that rely on memory layout information. From an ATT&CK perspective, this vulnerability aligns with techniques involving information gathering and privilege escalation, as the leaked memory addresses can be used to bypass security mitigations such as address space layout randomization. The vulnerability is particularly concerning in enterprise environments where Acrobat Reader is widely deployed, as a single compromised document could potentially expose memory layout information across multiple systems. Security researchers have noted that this type of memory leak vulnerability often indicates deeper issues in the application's memory management practices and may be indicative of other undetected vulnerabilities in the same code paths. Organizations should prioritize patching this vulnerability as it represents a significant risk to system security and could potentially enable more sophisticated attacks when combined with other exploitation techniques. The memory address leak vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and memory management practices in security-critical applications, particularly those handling complex multimedia formats like JPEG 2000 which have intricate parsing requirements.