CVE-2013-0845
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 · uneditedlibavcodec/alsdec.c in FFmpeg before 1.0.4 allows remote attackers to have an unspecified impact via a crafted block length, which triggers an out-of-bounds write.
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 libavcodec/alsdec.c in FFmpeg versions before 1.0.4. A crafted ALS (Audio Lossless Coding) media file with malicious block length values triggers an out-of-bounds memory write, allowing remote 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 data<= 1.0.3= 0.3= 0.3.1= 0.3.2= 0.3.3= 0.3.4= 0.4.0= 0.4.2= 0.4.3= 0.4.4= 0.4.5= 0.4.6CVSS 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
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
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 FFmpeg installation and versionRun 'ffmpeg -version' to display the installed FFmpeg versionAffected if Version is 1.0.3 or earlier, or matches any of these: 0.3, 0.3.1, 0.3.2, 0.3.3, 0.3.4, 0.4.0, 0.4.2, 0.4.3, 0.4.4, 0.4.5, 0.4.6
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Verify ALS decoder availabilityRun 'ffmpeg -codecs 2>&1 | grep -i als' or 'ffmpeg -decoders 2>&1 | grep -i als' to list supported ALS decodersAffected if ALS decoder is listed as available in the output (indicates the vulnerable alsdec.c component is present)
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Confirm libavcodec versionRun 'ffmpeg -version 2>&1 | grep libavcodec' to identify the libavcodec library version included with this FFmpeg buildAffected if The libavcodec version corresponds to an affected FFmpeg version listed above
You are affected if your FFmpeg installation version is 1.0.3 or earlier (or matches any of the specific 0.x versions listed) and the ALS audio decoder is available in your build.
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.
dbcve · scopedUpgrade FFmpeg to version 1.0.4 or later. For systems where upgrading is not immediately feasible, implement input validation and sandboxing for media file processing to reject malformed ALS files before they reach the decoder.
FFmpeg 1.0.4 or later
- Identify your current FFmpeg version using 'ffmpeg -version' or 'ffmpeg -version | head -n1'
- Download FFmpeg 1.0.4 or later from the official FFmpeg website (www.ffmpeg.org) or your distribution's package manager
- For source compilation: obtain the source from git.videolan.org or the FFmpeg release archives
- Compile and install the new version following standard FFmpeg build instructions
- Verify the installed version with 'ffmpeg -version' to confirm the upgrade was successful
- Test that the alsdec.c decoder functionality works correctly with your use cases
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-0845 — 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-2013-0845 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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