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Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical

CVE-2005-1260

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2005-05-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.0.3 / 10.4.11 or later.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
bzip2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (hard drive consumption) via a crafted bzip2 file that causes an infinite loop (a.k.a "decompression bomb").

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

The bzip2 decompression library contains a vulnerability where specially crafted bzip2 files can trigger an infinite loop during decompression, causing uncontrolled hard drive consumption as the decompressor continues writing data indefinitely.

MitigationUpdate bzip2 to a patched version that properly validates decompression boundaries, and implement file size or iteration limits on decompression operations to prevent resource exhaustion.

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
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 4.10= 5.04
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 3.0= 3.1
Bzip2Application
Affected:< 1.0.3
Mac Os XOperating system
Affected:< 10.4.11

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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 bzip2 version
    Run `bzip2 --version` or check your package manager: `dpkg -l libbz2` (Debian/Ubuntu), `rpm -q bzip2` (RPM-based), or inspect the library file directly with `strings /lib/libbz2.so.0 2>/dev/null | grep -i version`
    Affected if The reported version is less than 1.0.3, or the installed package version matches the vulnerable Ubuntu (4.10, 5.04), Debian (3.0, 3.1), or Mac OS X (< 10.4.11) releases
  2. Identify bzip2 library in use by applications
    Search for processes or applications linked against bzip2: `ldd $(which bzip2) 2>/dev/null | grep -i bz2` or scan running processes using `lsof | grep libbz2`
    Affected if Any application on the system uses the vulnerable bzip2 library for decompression operations
  3. Check for automated bzip2 decompression workflows
    Review crontabs, scripts, or services that process compressed files: look in /etc/cron*, /opt/*/scripts, and user home directories for .bz2 file processing, or examine mail/log processing daemons that may handle bzip2 attachments
    Affected if Automated systems exist that decompress incoming or user-supplied bzip2 files without size or iteration limits
  4. Verify file size or iteration limits on decompression
    Audit decompression code or tools for resource limits: grep -r "bzip2" /etc/* 2>/dev/null | head -20, and review any custom scripts that call bzip2 -d or bunzip2 for boundary validation or timeout controls
    Affected if No explicit limits exist on decompression output size or iteration count, allowing uncontrolled file growth

You are affected if your installed bzip2 version is below 1.0.3 (or matches the vulnerable OS versions listed) AND any process on the system decompresses untrusted or externally-sourced bzip2 files without resource limits.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.0.3 / 10.4.11 or later
Fixed in 1.0.310.4.11
Interim mitigation

Update bzip2 to a patched version that properly validates decompression boundaries, and implement file size or iteration limits on decompression operations to prevent resource exhaustion.

Fix this in Ubuntu Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2005-1260 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data