CVE-2010-0827
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 · uneditedInteger overflow in dvips in TeX Live 2009 and earlier, and teTeX, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted virtual font (VF) file associated with a DVI file.
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 confidenceInteger overflow vulnerability in dvips when parsing virtual font (VF) files. A crafted VF file associated with a DVI file can trigger the overflow, potentially allowing remote code execution or causing application crash.
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<= 2009= 1996= 1998= 1999= 2000= 2001= 2002= 2003= 2004= 2005= 2007= 2008all versionsCVSS 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
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/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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Verify dvips is installedRun 'which dvips' or 'dpkg -l | grep dvips' (Debian) / 'rpm -qa | grep dvips' (RHEL) to locate the dvips binaryAffected if dvips command is found on the system and the associated Tex Live/Tetex version falls within the affected range
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Identify Tex Live versionRun 'tlmgr --version' or check '/usr/local/texlive/*/bin/*/dvips' for the year in the path. Check the directory /usr/local/texlive/ for year folders (1996-2009)Affected if Tex Live version is 2009 or earlier, or any of the specific years 1996-2008 listed in affected versions
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Identify Tetex versionRun 'dpkg -l | grep tetex' (Debian) / 'rpm -qa | grep tetex' (RHEL) to check for installed tetex packagesAffected if Any version of tetex is installed (all versions are affected)
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Check for VF font files in useSearch for .vf files on the system using 'find / -name "*.vf" 2>/dev/null' or check TeX font directories typically in /usr/share/texmf/fonts/vf/Affected if VF files exist and are processed by dvips - the vulnerability triggers when dvips parses these files
The system is affected if dvips is present and the Tex Live version is 2009 or earlier, or any version of tetex is installed, especially when processing custom or untrusted VF font 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 dataUpgrade TeX Live beyond version 2009 to a patched version. Avoid processing untrusted DVI/VF files until patched.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,720.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-0827 — 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-2010-0827 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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