PidginApplication

CVE-2013-6484

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-02-06
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.10.7 or later.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 STUN protocol implementation in libpurple in Pidgin before 2.10.8 allows remote STUN servers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds write operation and application crash) by triggering a socket read error.

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 STUN protocol implementation in libpurple (used by Pidgin instant messenger) contains an out-of-bounds write vulnerability triggered when a remote STUN server causes a socket read error, leading to application crash and denial of service.

MitigationUpgrade Pidgin to version 2.10.8 or later which contains the fixed libpurple implementation. If immediate upgrade is not possible, consider blocking or restricting STUN server connections as a compensating control.

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
PidginApplication
Affected:<= 2.10.7= 2.0.0= 2.0.1= 2.0.2= 2.1.0= 2.1.1= 2.2.0= 2.2.1= 2.2.2= 2.3.0= 2.3.1= 2.4.0

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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. Verify Pidgin is installed
    Check for the presence of the Pidgin executable. On Linux, run 'which pidgin' or check package manager. On Windows, look for pidgin.exe in Program Files.
    Affected if Pidgin is not installed on the system
  2. Check installed Pidgin version
    Run 'pidgin --version' from command line, or on Windows right-click pidgin.exe and select Properties > Details to view the File Version.
    Affected if The installed version is 2.10.7 or lower, or matches any of these affected versions: 2.0.0, 2.0.1, 2.0.2, 2.1.0, 2.1.1, 2.2.0, 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.3.0, 2.3.1, 2.4.0
  3. Determine if STUN is enabled or configured
    Inspect Pidgin account settings. STUN is typically configured in Account > Modify > Advanced tab under 'STUN server'. Check for any STUN server hostname configured in the account configuration files (e.g., ~/.purple/accounts.xml on Linux).
    Affected if A STUN server is configured for any Pidgin account and the Pidgin version is among the affected versions listed above

A user is affected if they have a vulnerable Pidgin version (2.10.7 or lower, or any of the specific versions 2.0.0 through 2.4.0) AND have a STUN server configured in their account settings.

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 2.10.7
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Pidgin to version 2.10.8 or later which contains the fixed libpurple implementation. If immediate upgrade is not possible, consider blocking or restricting STUN server connections as a compensating control.

Fix this in Pidgin Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $860
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,376.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-6484 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-6484 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