CVE-2013-2003
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 X.org libXcursor 1.1.13 and earlier allows X servers to trigger allocation of insufficient memory and a buffer overflow via vectors related to the _XcursorFileHeaderCreate function.
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 in libXcursor 1.1.13 and earlier in the _XcursorFileHeaderCreate function allows a malicious X server to cause insufficient memory allocation, leading to a buffer overflow when processing crafted cursor 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<= 1.1.13= 1.1.6= 1.1.7= 1.1.8= 1.1.9= 1.1.10= 1.1.11= 1.1.12CVSS 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 installed libXcursor versionRun 'rpm -q libXcursor' (RHEL/CentOS) or 'dpkg -l libXcursor' (Debian/Ubuntu) to get the installed package versionAffected if Version is 1.1.13 or earlier, including 1.1.6 through 1.1.12
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Verify libXcursor library file versionRun 'strings /usr/lib/libXcursor.so.1 | grep -i xcursor' or check the library file metadata with 'file /usr/lib/libXcursor.so*' to confirm the library versionAffected if The library file corresponds to version 1.1.13 or earlier
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Confirm X cursor file loading is in useThis vulnerability affects any X client that loads cursor files. Verify X is running with 'ps aux | grep X' or 'xdpyinfo' - cursor file parsing is a standard X feature enabled by default when X is runningAffected if An X server is running and applications that use cursor files are executed (which is typical in any X environment)
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Check for untrusted X server connectionsReview X server configuration files (typically in /etc/X11/xorg.conf or /etc/gdm/*) and running X sessions to determine if untrusted or remote X servers can connectAffected if The X server allows connections from untrusted or remote sources that could serve malicious cursor files
If libXcursor version is 1.1.13 or earlier AND an X server is running that processes cursor files from potentially untrusted sources, the environment is affected by this integer overflow 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 libXcursor to version 1.1.14 or later to patch the integer overflow vulnerability.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-2003 — 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-2013-2003 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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