CVE-2006-5647
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 · uneditedSophos Anti-Virus and Endpoint Security before 6.0.5, Anti-Virus for Linux before 5.0.10, and other platforms before 4.11 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory corruption) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a malformed CHM file with a large name length in the CHM chunk header, aka "CHM name length memory consumption vulnerability."
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 · high confidenceMemory corruption vulnerability in Sophos Anti-Virus and Endpoint Security allows remote attackers to cause denial of service and potentially execute arbitrary code by processing a malformed CHM (Compiled HTML Help) file with an oversized name length field in the CHM chunk header.
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= 4.04= 4.05= 4.5.3= 4.5.4= 4.5.11= 4.5.12= 4.7.1= 4.7.2= 5.0.1= 5.0.2= 5.0.4= 5.1<= 6.04CVSS 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
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm Sophos product installationCheck if Sophos Anti-Virus or Endpoint Security is installed by looking for the product in Add/Remove Programs (Windows) or querying the package manager (Linux), or run 'sophos --version' or 'sweep --version' if availableAffected if No Sophos product is found - not applicable
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Identify installed Sophos versionUse the product's interface to view version information, or run 'sophos --version' from command line, or check the program's properties in Add/Remove ProgramsAffected if Version cannot be determined or is not in the Sophos product line
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Compare version against affected Anti-Virus versionsCompare your installed version to the list: 4.04, 4.05, 4.5.3, 4.5.4, 4.5.11, 4.5.12, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 5.0.1, 5.0.2, 5.0.4, 5.1Affected if Installed version matches one of these exact versions
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Compare version against affected Endpoint Security versionsCompare your installed Endpoint Security version to 6.04 or earlierAffected if Installed version is Endpoint Security 6.04 or earlier
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Verify CHM scanning is activeCheck Sophos configuration settings for CHM file scanning or on-access scanning capabilities - the vulnerability triggers when processing malformed CHM filesAffected if CHM scanning or on-access scanning is enabled and a malformed CHM file is processed
You are affected if Sophos Anti-Virus version is 4.04, 4.05, 4.5.3, 4.5.4, 4.5.11, 4.5.12, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 5.0.1, 5.0.2, 5.0.4, or 5.1, OR Sophos Endpoint Security is version 6.04 or earlier, and CHM file scanning is active.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpgrade to Sophos Anti-Virus and Endpoint Security 6.0.5 or later, Anti-Virus for Linux 5.0.10 or later, or other platform versions 4.11 or later to resolve the vulnerability.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2006-5647 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2006-5647 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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