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LibpngApplication · Greg Roelofs

CVE-2002-0660

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2002-08-12
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Buffer overflow in libpng 1.0.12-3.woody.2 and libpng3 1.2.1-1.1.woody.2 on Debian GNU/Linux 3.0, and other operating systems, may allow attackers to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary code, a different vulnerability than CVE-2002-0728.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

Buffer overflow vulnerability in libpng versions 1.0.12-3.woody.2 and 1.2.1-1.1.woody.2 (and other OS versions) allows remote attackers to cause denial of service and potentially execute arbitrary code via malformed PNG images.

MitigationUpdate libpng to a patched version beyond 1.2.1; for legacy systems, ensure PNG processing libraries are updated and validate input through additional filtering layers.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
LibpngApplication
Affected:= 1.0.12
Libpng3Application
Affected:= 1.2.1

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed libpng version
    Run 'dpkg -l | grep libpng' on Debian-based systems, 'rpm -qa | grep libpng' on RHEL-based systems, or check /usr/include/png.h for PNG_LIBPNG_VER macro
    Affected if The version is exactly 1.0.12 or 1.2.1 (or package versions containing 1.0.12-3.woody.2 or 1.2.1-1.1.woody.2)
  2. Check for libpng3 package
    Run 'dpkg -l | grep libpng3' or 'rpm -qa | grep libpng3' to see if the libpng3 package is installed
    Affected if libpng3 version 1.2.1 is installed
  3. Verify PNG processing capability
    Check if applications that link to libpng are present: run 'ldd /path/to/application | grep png' for common apps like browsers or image viewers, or check /usr/lib/libpng* files
    Affected if Applications link to the vulnerable libpng library versions 1.0.12 or 1.2.1

You are affected if libpng version 1.0.12 or 1.2.1 (or the Debian woody package variants) is installed and any application uses it to process PNG images.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update libpng to a patched version beyond 1.2.1; for legacy systems, ensure PNG processing libraries are updated and validate input through additional filtering layers.

Fix this in Libpng Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,900
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2002-0660 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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