Vulnerability Note VU#486225
Adobe Flash ActionScript AVM2 newfunction vulnerability
Overview
Adobe Flash contains a vulnerability in the handling of the ActionScript newfunction instruction, which can allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code.
Description
Adobe Flash 9 and later versions support ActionScript 3, which is executed by the ActionScript Virtual Machine 2 (AVM2). The AVM2 takes ActionScript Bytecode (ABC) as input, and it is just-in-time (JIT) compiled into processor-specific instructions. Certain malformed use of the AVM2 newfunction instruction can result in an exploitable crash. This vulnerability affects Flash Player 9 through 10.0.45.2. Adobe Reader 9, Acrobat 9, and other Adobe products (including Photoshop CS3, PhotoShop Lightroom, Freehand MX, Fireworks) provide Flash support independent of Flash Player. This vulnerability is being exploited in the wild. Exploit code for this vulnerability is publicly available. |
Impact
By convincing a user to view a specially crafted HTML document (e.g., a web page or an HTML email message or attachment), PDF file, Microsoft Office document, or any other document that supports embedded SWF content, an attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code. |
Solution
Apply an update |
Disable Flash in your web browser
"%ProgramFiles%\Adobe\Reader 9.0\Reader\rt3d.dll" For Apple Mac OS X, delete or rename these files:
"/Applications/Adobe Reader 9/Adobe Reader.app/Contents/Frameworks/Adobe3D.framework"
"/opt/Adobe/Reader9/Reader/intellinux/lib/librt3d.so" File locations may be different for Adobe Acrobat or other Adobe products that include Flash and 3D & Multimedia support. Disabling these plug-ins will reduce functionality and will not protect against SWF files hosted on websites. Depending on the update schedule for products other than Flash Player, consider leaving Flash and 3D & Multimedia support disabled unless they are absolutely required. Remove Flash Adobe has provided a TechNote with utilities for uninstalling the Flash Player plug-in and ActiveX control on Windows and Mac OS X systems. Removing these components can mitigate the web browser attack vector for this vulnerability. Note that this will not remove the instances of Flash Player that is installed with Adobe Reader 9 or other Adobe products. Enable DEP in Microsoft Windows Consider enabling Data Execution Prevention (DEP) in supported versions of Windows. DEP should not be treated as a complete workaround, but it can mitigate the execution of attacker-supplied code in some cases. Microsoft has published detailed technical information about DEP in Security Research & Defense blog posts "Understanding DEP as a mitigation technology" part 1 and part 2. Use of DEP should be considered in conjunction with the application of patches or other mitigations described in this document. Disable JavaScript in Adobe Reader and Acrobat Disabling JavaScript can help mitigate against some techniques that use Adobe Reader as an attack vector. To disable JavaScript in Adobe Reader:
Prevent Internet Explorer from automatically opening PDF documents The installer for Adobe Reader and Acrobat configures Internet Explorer to automatically open PDF files without any user interaction. This behavior can be reverted to the safer option of prompting the user by importing the following as a .REG file:
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AcroExch.Document.7] "EditFlags"=hex:00,00,00,00 Disable the displaying of PDF documents in the web browser Preventing PDF documents from opening inside a web browser reduces the attack surface. If this workaround is applied to updated versions of Adobe Reader and Acrobat, it may protect against future vulnerabilities. To prevent PDF documents from automatically being opened in a web browser with Adobe Reader:
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Vendor Information (Learn More)
| Vendor | Status | Date Notified | Date Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe | Affected | 25 Jan 2010 | 10 Jun 2010 |
CVSS Metrics (Learn More)
| Group | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|
| Base | 9.0 | AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:P |
| Temporal | 7.0 | E:POC/RL:OF/RC:C |
| Environmental | 7.0 | CDP:ND/TD:ND/CR:ND/IR:ND/AR:ND |
References
- http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/securing_browser/
- http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb10-14.html
- http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa10-01.html
- http://www.adobe.com/devnet/actionscript/articles/avm2overview.pdf
- http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/
- http://blog.zynamics.com/2010/06/09/analyzing-the-currently-exploited-0-day-for-adobe-reader-and-adobe-flash/
- http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/analysis-zero-day-exploit-adobe-flash-and-reader
- http://community.websense.com/blogs/securitylabs/archive/2010/06/09/having-fun-with-adobe-0-day-exploits.aspx
- http://secunia.com/advisories/40026
- http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00001962.html
- http://blogs.technet.com/srd/archive/2009/06/05/understanding-dep-as-a-mitigation-technology-part-1.aspx
- http://blogs.technet.com/srd/archive/2009/06/12/understanding-dep-as-a-mitigation-technology-part-2.aspx
Credit
This vulnerability was reported by Will Dormann of the CERT/CC. It has also been independently discovered and exploited in the wild.
This document was written by Will Dormann.
Other Information
- CVE IDs: CVE-2010-1297
- Date Public: 04 Jun 2010
- Date First Published: 07 Jun 2010
- Date Last Updated: 28 Mar 2012
- Severity Metric: 43.09
- Document Revision: 46
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