LibarchiveApplication · FreeBSD
CVE-2010-4666
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 · uneditedBuffer overflow in libarchive 3.0 pre-release code allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted CAB file, which is not properly handled during the reading of Huffman code data within LZX compressed data.
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 confidenceBuffer overflow vulnerability in libarchive 3.0 pre-release code when parsing CAB files with LZX compressed data. The vulnerability stems from improper bounds checking during Huffman code data reading in the LZX decompression routine, allowing remote attackers to cause denial of service (application crash) or potentially execute arbitrary code via specially crafted CAB files.
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
LibarchiveApplication
= 3.0CVSS 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
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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Identify libarchive installationRun 'pkg_info -L libarchive' or check for libarchive shared library files (typically libarchive.so or libarchive.a) in standard system library directories like /usr/lib or /usr/local/libAffected if libarchive version 3.0 is installed and the library files exist on the system
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Determine libarchive versionUse 'pkg version -l libarchive' or compile and run a simple program that calls archive_version_number() from the libarchive API to retrieve the exact version stringAffected if The reported version is exactly 3.0 (pre-release code)
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Verify CAB file handling support existsCheck if libarchive was compiled with CAB support by examining the output of 'archive --version' or testing CAB extraction capability with a benign CAB file using the 'bsdtar' or 'tar' utility linked to libarchiveAffected if CAB file extraction is supported and functional on the system
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Confirm LZX decompression is availableAttempt to list contents of a LZX-compressed CAB file using libarchive utilities (bsdtar -tvf test.cab) or check libarchive build configuration for LZX support in the compiled binaryAffected if LZX decompression is functional and can process CAB files with LZX compression
A system is affected if it runs libarchive version 3.0 and has the capability to decompress LZX-compressed CAB files, as the vulnerability is triggered during LZX Huffman code parsing in CAB file processing.
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 dataAvoid processing untrusted or unverified CAB files with vulnerable versions of libarchive until a patched release is available. Update to the latest stable version of libarchive when patches are released.
Fix this in Libarchive
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-4666 — 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-2010-4666 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
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