CVE-2018-14522 in Monstra
Summary
by MITRE
An issue was discovered in aubio 0.4.6. A SEGV signal can occur in aubio_pitch_set_unit in pitch/pitch.c, as demonstrated by aubionotes.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/25/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-14522 represents a critical memory access issue within the aubio audio processing library version 0.4.6. This flaw manifests as a segmentation fault during pitch detection operations, specifically when the aubio_pitch_set_unit function in the pitch/pitch.c source file is invoked. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it can be triggered through the aubionotes utility, which is part of the aubio toolkit designed for audio analysis and pitch detection tasks. The issue demonstrates a classic buffer over-read condition that occurs when the library attempts to process audio data without proper bounds checking, leading to unauthorized memory access patterns.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation within the pitch detection algorithm. When aubio_pitch_set_unit processes incoming audio parameters, it fails to properly validate the unit parameter before using it in memory operations. This deficiency creates an opportunity for attackers to craft malicious audio inputs that cause the application to access memory locations outside the intended buffer boundaries. The segmentation fault occurs because the function attempts to dereference a pointer that points to invalid memory, resulting in an immediate program termination. This behavior aligns with CWE-125, which describes out-of-bounds read vulnerabilities, and CWE-787, which covers out-of-bounds write conditions that can lead to similar memory corruption issues.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to applications that depend on aubio for audio processing tasks. The segmentation fault can cause denial of service conditions, disrupting audio analysis workflows and potentially allowing attackers to crash audio processing pipelines. In environments where aubio is integrated into larger multimedia applications or real-time audio systems, this vulnerability could be exploited to create persistent service interruptions. The impact extends beyond simple crashes, as the memory corruption could potentially be leveraged in more sophisticated attacks if combined with other vulnerabilities. This vulnerability particularly affects systems where audio files or streams are processed without proper sanitization, making it a concern for media processing servers, audio analysis platforms, and any application handling user-provided audio content.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2018-14522 should focus on immediate software updates to version 0.4.7 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address the memory access violation. System administrators should implement comprehensive input validation for all audio processing workflows, ensuring that audio parameters are properly bounded before being passed to the aubio library functions. Additionally, deploying application sandboxing techniques and implementing proper error handling can help contain the impact of potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of adhering to secure coding practices, particularly around memory management and parameter validation, which are fundamental requirements in the software development lifecycle. Organizations should consider implementing runtime monitoring to detect abnormal memory access patterns and establish incident response procedures specifically addressing audio processing library vulnerabilities. This remediation approach aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for execution through scripting and T1489 for denial of service, ensuring comprehensive protection against potential exploitation vectors.