CVE-2017-3045 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 JPEG 2000 parser, related to the palette box.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/01/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-3045 represents a critical memory address leak flaw within Adobe Acrobat Reader software that affects multiple version ranges including 11.0.19 and earlier, 15.006.30280 and earlier, and 15.023.20070 and earlier. This issue specifically resides within the JPEG 2000 parser component of the application, making it particularly concerning given the widespread use of PDF documents containing multimedia content. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-200, which deals with information exposure, and manifests when processing palette box data within JPEG 2000 image formats. The flaw occurs during the parsing of structured image data that contains palette information, where improper memory management leads to the disclosure of sensitive address information from the application's memory space.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability involves the manipulation of JPEG 2000 formatted images embedded within PDF documents that contain palette box data structures. When Adobe Acrobat Reader processes such malformed or specially crafted images, the JPEG 2000 parser fails to properly handle memory allocation and deallocation sequences, resulting in memory addresses being leaked to the application's output streams. This memory leakage can expose kernel addresses, heap addresses, or other sensitive memory locations that are typically protected from direct access by the operating system's memory management mechanisms. The vulnerability stems from inadequate bounds checking and memory handling procedures within the parser's implementation, particularly when dealing with the palette box structure that defines color mapping information for JPEG 2000 images.
The operational impact of CVE-2017-3045 extends beyond simple information disclosure, as memory address leaks can provide attackers with critical information needed for more sophisticated exploitation techniques. The leaked memory addresses can be leveraged in advanced attack scenarios such as return-oriented programming attacks or heap spraying techniques that require precise knowledge of memory layout. According to ATT&CK framework category T1059, this vulnerability could enable adversaries to gain insights into the target system's memory architecture, potentially facilitating privilege escalation or remote code execution attacks. The vulnerability affects systems running vulnerable versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader across multiple operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux platforms, making it a significant concern for enterprise environments where PDF processing is common.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigation strategies including prompt patching of affected Adobe Acrobat Reader versions, deployment of network-based intrusion detection systems to monitor for suspicious PDF file transfers, and implementation of application whitelisting policies that restrict execution of untrusted PDF content. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of regular security assessments and vulnerability management processes, particularly for widely used applications like Adobe Acrobat Reader that process complex multimedia formats. System administrators should consider implementing sandboxing mechanisms for PDF processing and establishing strict content filtering policies for documents containing JPEG 2000 images. Additionally, the vulnerability demonstrates the critical need for proper memory management practices in multimedia parsing libraries and reinforces the necessity of thorough security testing for image format parsers that handle complex data structures such as palette boxes in JPEG 2000 format.