CVE-2010-0207
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 · uneditedIn xpdf, the xref table contains an infinite loop which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) in xpdf-based PDF viewers.
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 confidenceXpdf contains an infinite loop vulnerability in its xref (cross-reference) table parsing logic. When processing a specially crafted PDF file with a malformed xref table, the parser enters an infinite loop, causing the application to hang and eventually crash, resulting in a denial of service.
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= 3.03-17= 3.04-4= 3.04-13CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
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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Locate xpdf installationRun 'which xpdf' on Linux/macOS or check C:\Program Files\xpdf on Windows. Also check common Linux package managers with 'dpkg -l | grep xpdf' or 'rpm -qa | grep xpdf'.Affected if xpdf is installed and its version falls within or below 3.03-17, 3.04-4, or 3.04-13
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Identify xpdf-based PDF viewersSearch for known xpdf derivatives such as poppler-utils, pdfinfo, pdftotext, kpdf, okular, or gpdf. Run 'dpkg -l | grep -E "poppler|kpdf|okular"' or 'rpm -qa | grep -E "poppler|kpdf|okular"'.Affected if Any xpdf-based or poppler-based PDF viewer is installed and shares the same vulnerable xref parsing code
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Get exact version numberRun 'xpdf -v' or 'xpdf -version' to display the installed version. For poppler-utils, run 'pdftotext -v'. Compare this version against the affected versions 3.03 through 3.03-17, 3.04 through 3.04-4, and 3.04 through 3.04-13.Affected if The displayed version is 3.03, 3.03-17, 3.04, 3.04-4, or 3.04-13, or falls within these ranges (any version up to and including these patch levels)
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Verify xref parsing is exposedConfirm the xpdf binary or library is used for processing untrusted PDF files. Check if the application is configured to open or parse PDF documents from external or untrusted sources.Affected if The xpdf installation is actively used to process PDF files, particularly from untrusted sources, enabling the malformed xref table to trigger the infinite loop
Your environment is affected if xpdf or any xpdf-based PDF viewer with version 3.03-17, 3.04-4, 3.04-13 or earlier is installed and used to process PDF files.
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 dataUpdate xpdf and all xpdf-based PDF viewers to versions with the CVE-2010-0207 patch applied, or replace with updated PDF libraries that have addressed this 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-2010-0207 — 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-2010-0207 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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- 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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