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FfmpegApplication

CVE-2013-2277

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2013-02-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.1.2 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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 ff_h264_decode_seq_parameter_set function in h264_ps.c in libavcodec in FFmpeg before 1.1.3 does not validate the relationship between luma depth and chroma depth, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds array access and application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via crafted H.264 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 confidence

The ff_h264_decode_seq_parameter_set function in libavcodec's h264_ps.c fails to validate the relationship between luma bit depth and chroma bit depth when parsing H.264 sequence parameter sets. This missing validation allows crafted H.264 streams to trigger out-of-bounds array access, causing denial of service or potentially other unspecified impact.

MitigationUpdate FFmpeg to version 1.1.3 or later which includes proper validation of luma/chroma bit depth relationships in H.264 SPS parsing.

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
FfmpegApplication
Affected:<= 1.1.2= 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

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Determine installed FFmpeg version
    Run 'ffmpeg -version' or 'ffmpeg -version | head -1' to get the version number
    Affected if The version is 1.1.2 or earlier, or one of: 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
  2. Check if libavcodec H.264 decoder is available
    Run 'ffmpeg -codecs 2>/dev/null | grep -i h264' or 'ffprobe -version' to verify libavcodec with H.264 support is present
    Affected if libavcodec with H.264 decoding capability is installed on a vulnerable FFmpeg version
  3. Identify if FFmpeg is used to process untrusted H.264 streams
    Review configuration to see if FFmpeg processes H.264 video files from external or untrusted sources
    Affected if The system uses FFmpeg to decode or transcode H.264 streams that could be crafted by an attacker

You are affected if your installed FFmpeg version is 1.1.2 or earlier (or one of the listed 0.x versions) and you process H.264 video streams using libavcodec.

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 1.1.2
Interim mitigation

Update FFmpeg to version 1.1.3 or later which includes proper validation of luma/chroma bit depth relationships in H.264 SPS parsing.

Fix this in Ffmpeg Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2013-2277 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