CVE-2022-35090 is a medium-severity heap-buffer overflow vulnerability identified in the SWFTools project, specifically linked to a commit (772e55a2). The vulnerability arises from improper handling of memory operations in the __asan_memcpy function within the AddressSanitizer interceptors (asan_interceptors_memintrinsics.cpp). Heap-buffer overflows occur when a program writes more data to a heap-allocated buffer than it can hold, potentially leading to memory corruption, crashes, or exploitation opportunities. In this case, the overflow is triggered during a memory copy operation, which can cause the application to behave unpredictably or terminate unexpectedly. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 5.5, reflecting a medium severity level, with the vector indicating local attack vector (AV:L), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges required (PR:N), user interaction required (UI:R), unchanged scope (S:U), no impact on confidentiality or integrity (C:N/I:N), but high impact on availability (A:H). This means an attacker with local access and no privileges can exploit the vulnerability by tricking a user into performing an action, resulting in denial of service due to application crashes. No known exploits are reported in the wild, and no specific affected product versions or patches are detailed, which suggests limited public information or that the vulnerability is in development or testing tools rather than widely deployed production software. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write), a common and dangerous class of memory errors.

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2022-35090 is the potential for denial-of-service conditions in environments using SWFTools or related software components that incorporate the vulnerable code. SWFTools is a collection of utilities for handling Adobe Flash SWF files, which may be used in legacy systems or specialized workflows involving multimedia content. Although Flash technology has been largely deprecated, some organizations may still rely on these tools for archival, conversion, or content processing tasks. An attacker with local access could induce application crashes by exploiting this heap-buffer overflow, disrupting business operations or automated processes. Since the vulnerability does not affect confidentiality or integrity, the risk of data breaches or unauthorized data modification is low. However, availability impacts can still cause operational delays or require incident response efforts. European organizations with legacy multimedia processing infrastructure or development environments that include AddressSanitizer-enabled builds might be more susceptible. The requirement for local access and user interaction limits remote exploitation, reducing the threat surface for typical enterprise networks. Nonetheless, insider threats or compromised endpoints could leverage this vulnerability to cause service interruptions.

To mitigate CVE-2022-35090, European organizations should first identify any use of SWFTools or related software that might incorporate the vulnerable commit or similar memory operations. Since no official patches are listed, organizations should consider the following specific actions: 1) Review and update to the latest versions of SWFTools or alternative tools that do not include the vulnerable code or have addressed the issue. 2) If using AddressSanitizer builds for development or testing, ensure that memory operations are carefully audited and that unsafe memcpy calls are replaced or guarded with bounds checks. 3) Restrict local access to systems running vulnerable software to trusted users only, minimizing the risk of exploitation via user interaction. 4) Implement application whitelisting and endpoint protection to detect abnormal crashes or memory corruption events related to this vulnerability. 5) Monitor logs and system behavior for signs of exploitation attempts, such as repeated crashes or unusual user activity. 6) Where possible, replace legacy Flash-related workflows with modern, supported multimedia processing solutions to reduce reliance on outdated tools. These targeted mitigations go beyond generic advice by focusing on the specific context of SWFTools and AddressSanitizer usage.