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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2007-2833

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2007-06-21
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
87/100
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
Emacs 21 allows user-assisted attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via certain crafted images, as demonstrated via a GIF image in vm mode, related to image size calculation.

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

Emacs 21 contains a vulnerability in its image processing code where specially crafted GIF images can trigger a crash. The issue stems from improper image size calculation during the parsing and rendering of images in vm (view mail) mode. An attacker could cause Emacs to crash by enticing a user to open a maliciously crafted image file.

MitigationUpgrade to a patched version of Emacs that addresses this image handling vulnerability, or disable automatic image rendering in vm mode. Users should avoid opening images from untrusted sources.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 4.0
EmacsApplication
Affected:= 21

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
Complete

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

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. Check installed Emacs version
    Run 'emacs --version' or M-x emacs-version in Emacs to identify the version number
    Affected if Version is 21.x (any subversion of Emacs 21)
  2. Verify vm mode is in use
    Check if the vm package is loaded by running 'M-x vm' or checking for vm-related packages in your Emacs configuration
    Affected if vm (view mail) mode is active or configured to load on startup
  3. Inspect automatic image display setting in vm
    Check vm configuration variables - look for vm-inhibit-images, vm-display-images, or similar image-related settings in your .emacs or init file
    Affected if Image display is enabled (vm-display-images is non-nil or vm-inhibit-images is nil) and vm mode is actively used to view mail with images
  4. Identify if untrusted image files are opened in vm
    Review whether you or your users open GIF or other image attachments from email in vm mode
    Affected if You routinely open image attachments from emails in vm mode without manual inspection

You are affected if running Emacs 21 with vm mode enabled and automatic image rendering turned on, and you open GIF images from email attachments in that mode.

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

Upgrade to a patched version of Emacs that addresses this image handling vulnerability, or disable automatic image rendering in vm mode. Users should avoid opening images from untrusted sources.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2007-2833 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