CVE-2017-3031 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 in the XSLT engine.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/31/2024
Adobe Acrobat Reader contains a memory address leak vulnerability within its XSLT engine implementation that affects multiple version ranges including 11.0.19 and earlier, 15.006.30280 and earlier, and 15.023.20070 and earlier. This vulnerability stems from improper handling of memory addresses during XSLT processing operations, where the application fails to properly manage memory allocation and deallocation sequences. The flaw manifests when the XSLT engine processes malformed or specially crafted XSLT transformations, causing sensitive memory addresses to be exposed through error messages or crash information. This type of vulnerability falls under the CWE-248 category of Uncaught Exception, specifically affecting the memory management aspects of the application's processing engine. The memory address leakage occurs because the XSLT engine does not adequately sanitize memory references during transformation operations, potentially exposing heap addresses, stack locations, or other sensitive memory locations that could be leveraged by attackers to bypass security mechanisms or aid in further exploitation attempts.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as memory address leaks can provide attackers with critical information needed for advanced exploitation techniques. When an attacker can obtain memory addresses through controlled XSLT processing, they gain insights into the application's memory layout and can potentially use this information to craft more sophisticated attacks such as return-oriented programming exploits or stack spraying techniques. The vulnerability exists in the core processing engine of Acrobat Reader, making it particularly dangerous as it can be triggered through normal document processing activities. Attackers could potentially craft malicious XSLT files that, when processed by the vulnerable application, would reveal memory addresses that could then be used to bypass address space layout randomization or other memory protection mechanisms. This creates a significant risk for enterprise environments where Acrobat Reader is widely deployed, as the vulnerability could be exploited through social engineering campaigns targeting document attachments or through compromised websites serving malicious XSLT content.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on immediate patch management and application hardening measures. Organizations must prioritize updating all instances of Adobe Acrobat Reader to versions that contain the necessary security fixes, as Adobe has released patches addressing this specific memory address leak issue. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper memory management practices and exception handling within security-critical applications, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for execution through scripting and T1068 for exploit development through memory corruption. Administrators should implement application whitelisting policies to restrict execution of potentially malicious XSLT content and consider deploying network-based intrusion detection systems that can monitor for suspicious XSLT processing patterns. Additionally, regular security assessments should include testing for similar memory management vulnerabilities in other applications that process structured data formats, as this type of flaw often indicates broader architectural weaknesses in memory handling practices. The vulnerability also underscores the need for comprehensive security testing including fuzzing and memory analysis tools to identify similar issues in legacy applications that may not receive regular security updates.