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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2009-0946

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2009-04-17
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 10.6.4 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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
Multiple integer overflows in FreeType 2.3.9 and earlier allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via vectors related to large values in certain inputs in (1) smooth/ftsmooth.c, (2) sfnt/ttcmap.c, and (3) cff/cffload.c.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-190

An arithmetic operation produces a value too large for its type and wraps around to an unexpected — often tiny or negative — number. That miscalculated value then drives a memory allocation or a bounds check, opening the door to corruption. The fix is checked arithmetic and validating sizes before they're used.

General guidance for the integer overflow class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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= 5.0= 6.0
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 6.06= 8.04= 8.10= 9.04
SafariWeb browser
Affected:= 4.0
FreetypeApplication
Affected:<= 2.3.9
OpensuseOperating system
Affected:= 10.3= 11.0= 11.1
Linux Enterprise ServerOperating system
Affected:= 10= 11
Iphone OsOperating system
Affected:>= 1.0.0, <= 2.2.1
Mac Os XOperating system
Affected:>= 10.6.0, <= 10.6.4= 10.4.11= 10.5.8

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

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 a release after 10.6.4
Vendor patch git.savannah.gnu.org →
We can identify the exact fixed release, upgrade, and verify it in staging — typical engagement from $3,200. Get the upgrade done

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-2009-0946 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