Threat Bulletin – CVE-2024-2883

CVE-2024-2883 is a critical use-after-free vulnerability in ANGLE (a Chromium component used by Chrome and Edge) that can be triggered by loading a specially crafted HTML page, leading to heap corruption and potential system compromise. Active exploitation has been reported; affected parties should prioritize browser updates and consider virtual patching or AMTD protections. #CVE-2024-2883 #ANGLE

Keypoints

Vulnerability: CVE-2024-2883 is a critical use-after-free (UAF) flaw in ANGLE, a Chromium component enabling WebGL/OpenGL rendering.
Exploitation vector: Attackers can trigger the flaw via specially crafted HTML pages, enabling drive-by attacks when a user loads the page.
Impact: Successful exploitation can cause heap corruption and may allow attackers to access system resources with the user’s privileges, potentially leading to full compromise.
Active exploitation: The Chromium project has confirmed reports of exploitation in the wild.
Related issues: CVE-2024-2883 is grouped with other recent high-severity Chromium vulnerabilities (CVE-2024-2885, CVE-2024-2886, CVE-2024-2887) that share similar mechanisms.
Mitigation: Recommended actions include applying browser updates and employing virtual patching or Automated Moving Target Defense (AMTD) solutions to protect unpatched systems.
Visibility and prioritization: Adaptive Exposure Management can identify devices running vulnerable browser versions to prioritize patching efforts.

MITRE Techniques

[T1189] Drive-by Compromise – The exploit uses web content delivery to compromise clients via a web page: (‘create a specially crafted HTML page which can be used in drive-by attacks’).
[T1203] Exploitation for Client Execution – A use-after-free in a browser component allows remote attackers to trigger heap corruption and achieve code execution within the victim’s browser process: (‘allowing remote attackers to exploit heap corruption’).

Indicators of Compromise

[CVE] Vulnerability identifiers referenced – CVE-2024-2883, CVE-2024-2885, CVE-2024-2886, CVE-2024-2887
[URL] Analysis and advisory pages – https://blog.morphisec.com/cve-2024-2883 (Original post), https://github.com/google/angle (ANGLE project)

ANGLE (Almost Native Graphics Layer Engine) is a Chromium component that implements WebGL/OpenGL rendering; the CVE-2024-2883 defect is a use-after-free vulnerability in that component which an attacker can trigger by serving a specially crafted HTML page. The technical root cause is improper memory handling leading to heap corruption during graphics/web rendering operations, which an attacker can leverage to hijack execution in the browser process when a victim loads the malicious page.

Exploitation follows a classic client-side vulnerability chain: the attacker crafts HTML/JS content that triggers the UAF in ANGLE, inducing heap corruption and enabling arbitrary code execution or memory corruption within the context of the user’s browser process. Because the attack vector is web content, it supports drive-by scenarios where merely visiting a page can result in compromise; Chromium maintainers have confirmed active exploitation in the wild, increasing urgency for mitigations.

Practical mitigations are to apply vendor browser updates immediately and, where patching is delayed, to deploy protections that reduce exploitability: virtual patching via Automated Moving Target Defense (AMTD) reorders application memory at load time to disrupt exploitation techniques and signatureless defenses like Morphisec’s AMTD can prevent exploitation of unpatched UAFs; additionally, use vulnerability visibility tools to locate systems running vulnerable browser versions and prioritize remediation.