CVE-2020-9739 in Media Encoder
Summary
by MITRE
Adobe Media Encoder version 14.3.2 (and earlier versions) has an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that could be exploited to read past the end of an allocated buffer, possibly resulting in a crash or disclosure of sensitive information from other memory locations. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/18/2020
Adobe Media Encoder version 14.3.2 and earlier versions contain a critical out-of-bounds read vulnerability that represents a significant security risk for users who process multimedia content. This vulnerability falls under the Common Weakness Enumeration category CWE-125 which specifically addresses out-of-bounds read conditions where an application attempts to read data beyond the boundaries of a allocated buffer. The flaw occurs when the application processes specially crafted media files or web content that triggers improper memory access patterns during media encoding operations.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability allows an attacker to construct malicious media files or web pages that, when processed by Adobe Media Encoder, cause the application to attempt reading memory locations beyond the intended buffer boundaries. This type of memory corruption can lead to unpredictable behavior including application crashes, denial of service conditions, or potentially more severe consequences such as information disclosure from adjacent memory regions. The vulnerability requires user interaction to be exploited, meaning that a victim must either visit a malicious webpage or open a specially crafted media file that contains the malicious payload designed to trigger the buffer overflow condition.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a substantial risk to organizations that rely on Adobe Media Encoder for professional video editing and media processing workflows. The requirement for user interaction creates a social engineering vector where attackers could deliver malicious content through phishing campaigns, compromised websites, or malicious file attachments. Security researchers have identified that the vulnerability could be leveraged to extract sensitive information from memory locations, potentially including encryption keys, user credentials, or other confidential data that might be stored in adjacent memory segments. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in environments where media processing applications have access to sensitive corporate or personal data.
The exploitation of this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1203 which involves gaining access to a system through malicious file or webpage delivery. Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including updating to Adobe Media Encoder version 14.3.3 or later which contains the necessary patches to address this out-of-bounds read condition. Additionally, security administrators should consider implementing content filtering solutions that can detect and block malicious media files, while also educating end users about the risks of opening untrusted media content. Network-based detection systems should be configured to monitor for suspicious media file patterns that could indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of maintaining current software versions and implementing defense-in-depth strategies to protect against file processing vulnerabilities that can be exploited through user interaction.