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EkigaApplication

CVE-2007-4897

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2007-09-14
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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
pwlib, as used by Ekiga 2.0.5 and possibly other products, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via a long argument to the PString::vsprintf function, related to a "memory management flaw". NOTE: this issue was originally reported as being in the SIPURL::GetHostAddress function in Ekiga (formerly GnomeMeeting).

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

A memory management flaw in pwlib's PString::vsprintf function allows remote attackers to crash applications (like Ekiga 2.0.5) by providing an overly long argument, likely causing a buffer overflow or improper memory allocation in string handling.

MitigationUpdate pwlib to a patched version, or upgrade Ekiga and other affected products to versions that include the fixed pwlib library. If updates are unavailable, consider network-level filtering to limit malformed SIP messages.

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
EkigaApplication
Affected:= 2.0.5

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. Check Ekiga installation status
    Run 'dpkg -l | grep ekiga' on Debian-based systems, 'rpm -qa | grep ekiga' on RHEL-based systems, or check Program Files/Ekiga folder on Windows
    Affected if Ekiga is installed on the system
  2. Identify installed Ekiga version
    Run 'ekiga --version' or check the application About dialog in the GUI
    Affected if Version returned is exactly 2.0.5
  3. Verify pwlib library presence
    Check for libpwlib or pwlib library files: 'ldd /usr/bin/ekiga | grep pwlib' or search for pwlib.so in standard library directories
    Affected if pwlib library is linked to the Ekiga installation
  4. Confirm network exposure
    Check if Ekiga has been run and is listening on SIP ports (typically UDP/TCP port 5060) using 'netstat -an | grep 5060' or similar network inspection
    Affected if Ekiga is running and bound to network interfaces accepting SIP connections

A system is affected if Ekiga version 2.0.5 is installed with the vulnerable pwlib library and the application is active on the network.

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 pwlib to a patched version, or upgrade Ekiga and other affected products to versions that include the fixed pwlib library. If updates are unavailable, consider network-level filtering to limit malformed SIP messages.

Fix this in Ekiga Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,280
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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-2007-4897 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
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