CVE-2011-5244
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 · uneditedMultiple off-by-one errors in the (1) token and (2) linetoken functions in backend/dvi/mdvi-lib/afmparse.c in t1lib, as used in teTeX 3.0.x, GNOME evince, and possibly other products, allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a DVI file containing a crafted Adobe Font Metrics (AFM) file, different vulnerabilities than CVE-2010-2642 and CVE-2011-0433.
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 confidenceOff-by-one errors in the token and linetoken functions in afmparse.c allow heap or stack buffer overflows when parsing specially crafted Adobe Font Metrics (AFM) files embedded in DVI documents. This memory corruption can be triggered by t1lib, which is used by teTeX and GNOME evince, leading to potential code execution or 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 dataall versionsall versions= 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
- 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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Check if GNOME Evince is installedRun 'dpkg -l evince' (Debian/Ubuntu) or 'rpm -qa | grep evince' (RHEL/CentOS) or check your system package manager for the evince packageAffected if Evince is installed - all versions are affected when processing DVI files with embedded AFM content
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Check if t1lib is installedRun 'ldconfig -p | grep t1' to see if t1lib is in the library cache, or check your package manager for t1libAffected if t1lib is installed - all versions are vulnerable when parsing AFM files from DVI documents
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Check if teTeX is installedRun 'dpkg -l tetex-base' or 'rpm -qa | grep tetex' or check for tex binaries in /usr/bin/Affected if teTeX version 3.0 is installed - this version is affected when processing DVI files with embedded AFM fonts
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Verify DVI document processing capabilityCheck if your system can process DVI files - run 'which dvi' or look for dvi viewers like xdvi, dvipdf, or evince DVI supportAffected if A DVI viewer or processor (evince, xdvi, dvipdf) is available and capable of processing DVI documents containing AFM files
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Check for AFM file parsing in useSearch for AFM files on the system with 'find / -name "*.afm" 2>/dev/null' or check if any DVI documents reference external AFM fontsAffected if AFM font files are present or DVI documents using AFM fonts are being processed - this triggers the vulnerable code path in t1lib
If any of evince, t1lib, or teTeX 3.0 is installed and capable of processing DVI documents with embedded AFM files, the system is affected by this vulnerability.
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 t1lib to a patched version and ensure all applications using it (evince, teTeX) are updated. Disable or restrict DVI file processing from untrusted sources until patches are applied.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing5.0 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 $4,752.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2011-5244 — 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-2011-5244 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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