iDefense Security Advisory 08.24.10: Adobe Shockwave Player Memory Corruption Vulnerability

iDefense Security Advisory 08.24.10
http://labs.idefense.com/intelligence/vulnerabilities/
Aug 24, 2010

I. BACKGROUND

Adobe Shockwave Player is a popular Web browser plugin. It is available
for multiple Web browsers and platforms, including Windows, and MacOS.
Shockwave Player enables Web browsers to display rich multimedia
content in the form of Shockwave videos. For more information, see the
vendor's site found at the following link:

http://get.adobe.com/shockwave

II. DESCRIPTION

Remote exploitation of a memory corruption vulnerability in Adobe
Systems Inc.'s Shockwave Player could allow an attacker to execute
arbitrary code with the privileges of the current user. <BR> <BR> The
vulnerability takes place during the processing of a tSAC chunk within
an Adobe Director file. A length value is read from the tSAC chunk and
a signed comparison is made against the length value. If the length
value is negative, a memory address is incorrectly calculated and a
null byte is written to the memory address. This condition may lead to
arbitrary code execution.

III. ANALYSIS

Exploitation of this vulnerability results in the execution of arbitrary
code with the privileges of the user viewing the Web page. To exploit
this vulnerability, a targeted user must load a malicious Adobe
Director file created by an attacker. An attacker typically
accomplishes this via social engineering or injecting content into a
compromised, trusted site.

IV. DETECTION

Shockwave Player 11.5.7.609 and earlier versions for Windows and
Macintosh are vulnerable.

V. WORKAROUND

The killbit for the Shockwave Player ActiveX control can be set by
creating the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX
Compatibility\{233C1507-6A77-46A4-9443-F871F945D258} <BR> <BR> Under
this key create a new DWORD value called "Compatibility Flags" and set
its hexadecimal value to 400. <BR> <BR> To re-enable Shockwave Player
set the "Compatibility Flags" value to 0.

VI. VENDOR RESPONSE

Adobe has released a fix which addresses this issue. Information about
downloadable vendor updates can be found by clicking on the URLs shown.

http://get.adobe.com/shockwave/

VII. CVE INFORMATION

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) project has assigned the
name CVE-2010-2875 to this issue. This is a candidate for inclusion in
the CVE list (http://cve.mitre.org/&#41;, which standardizes names for
security problems.

VIII. DISCLOSURE TIMELINE

07/07/2010 Initial Vendor Notification
07/07/2010 Initial Vendor Reply
08/24/2010 Coordinated Public Disclosure

IX. CREDIT

The discoverer of this vulnerability wishes to remain anonymous.

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X. LEGAL NOTICES

Copyright © 2010 iDefense, Inc.

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Disclaimer: The information in the advisory is believed to be accurate
at the time of publishing based on currently available information. Use
of the information constitutes acceptance for use in an AS IS condition.
There are no warranties with regard to this information. Neither the
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