This vulnerability occurs when a user downloads a malicious video file from the internet. The malicious video file may contain malicious code that can corrupt the memory of a smartphone and make it vulnerable to remote attack. This attack can be performed using a smartphone with the installed application that supports video. When the user opens the application and plays the downloaded video file, the application reads the file from the memory and parses the data to extract information. In this case, the application reads data from memory that is out of bound, resulting in a memory corruption that can be exploited by attackers to run arbitrary code on the smartphone. This vulnerability has been assigned the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) project number CVE-2018-5333. How to fix this issue? Install an antivirus app on your smartphone to prevent downloading malicious content.

Set up an application whitelist in your smartphone to prevent downloading applications from an untrusted source.

Limit the amount of memory that is allocated for applications to prevent applications from using too much memory and causing a memory leak that can be exploited by attackers.

Keep antivirus software updated on your smartphone to prevent malicious content from being downloaded.

Keep all applications that collect private information to a minimum to prevent applications from using too much memory and causing a memory leak that can be exploited by attackers.

What is a memory leak?

Memory leaks happen when memory allocations aren't deallocated. When this happens, the application will continue to use more and more memory, until eventually it crashes or consumes all of the available memory on your device. This allows attackers to use a technique called heap spraying to create a large number of objects in memory. If you can see that an application is leaking memory, then you should consider stopping the leaking process by terminating the application.

The most common cause of a memory leak is poorly designed code or excessive memory allocation. In this case, you should follow documentation and design guidelines for your product when developing it. You should also increase the amount of available RAM if possible to prevent applications from using too much memory and causing a memory leak that can be exploited by attackers

Timeline

Published on: 09/02/2022 12:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 09/07/2022 20:49:00 UTC

References