Vlc Media PlayerApplication · Videolan

CVE-2010-1443

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-12-26
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.0.5 or later.
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
The parse_track_node function in modules/demux/playlist/xspf.c in the XSPF playlist parser in VideoLAN VLC media player before 1.0.6 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and application crash) via an empty location element in an XML Shareable Playlist Format (XSPF) document.

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 confidence

The XSPF playlist parser in VLC media player before 1.0.6 contains a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability in the parse_track_node function (modules/demux/playlist/xspf.c). When processing an XML Shareable Playlist Format (XSPF) document with an empty location element, the parser fails to handle the NULL value properly, causing the application to crash.

MitigationUpgrade VLC media player to version 1.0.6 or later to obtain the patch that adds proper validation for empty location elements in XSPF playlists.

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
Vlc Media PlayerApplication
Affected:<= 1.0.5= 0.5.0= 0.5.1= 0.5.2= 0.5.3= 0.6.0= 0.6.1= 0.6.2= 0.7.0= 0.7.1= 0.7.2= 0.8.0

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. Identify VLC version
    Open VLC, go to Help > About, or run 'vlc --version' from command line
    Affected if Version is 1.0.5 or earlier, or matches 0.5.0 through 0.8.0 listed in affected versions
  2. Confirm XSPF playlist usage
    Check if the VLC player has recently opened or is configured to load .xspf playlist files
    Affected if XSPF playlists are being loaded or processed in the environment
  3. Inspect XSPF files for empty location elements
    Open any .xspf playlist files in a text editor and examine <location> tags for empty content between tags
    Affected if Any <location></location> or <location/> elements contain no content

The environment is affected if VLC version is within the affected range AND XSPF playlists with empty location elements are being processed.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 1.0.5
Interim mitigation

Upgrade VLC media player to version 1.0.6 or later to obtain the patch that adds proper validation for empty location elements in XSPF playlists.

Fix this in Vlc Media Player Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-1443 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2010-1443 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