CVE-2013-6485
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 · uneditedBuffer overflow in util.c in libpurple in Pidgin before 2.10.8 allows remote HTTP servers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via an invalid chunk-size field in chunked transfer-coding 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 confidenceBuffer overflow vulnerability in util.c within libpurple (Pidgin's underlying library) allows remote HTTP servers to trigger the flaw via malformed chunked transfer-coding data containing invalid chunk-size fields, potentially causing application crash or unspecified other impact.
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<= 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= 2.4.0CVSS 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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Determine Pidgin versionRun 'pidgin --version' on Linux, or on Windows open Pidgin and go to Help > About. On macOS, check the application bundle info.Affected if The version is 2.10.7 or lower, or exactly matches 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, or 2.4.0.
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Confirm libpurple library presencelibpurple is bundled with Pidgin. On Linux, check for /usr/lib/libpurple* or locate the library via 'ldd $(which pidgin)' to see linked libraries.Affected if The libpurple library is loaded by the Pidgin binary, which is the case for standard Pidgin installations.
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Identify HTTP-based account usageOpen Pidgin Accounts dialog (Accounts > Manage) and review enabled protocols. Protocols that may involve HTTP connections include XMPP with HTTP transport, custom HTTP-based transports, or any server that communicates via HTTP.Affected if Any account is configured to connect to services that use HTTP transport, since the malformed chunked transfer-coding would be sent by a remote HTTP server.
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Verify chunked transfer encoding is possibleThe vulnerability triggers when Pidgin parses HTTP responses using chunked transfer-encoding. This occurs automatically when communicating with HTTP servers that return chunked responses. No manual configuration is required to be vulnerable; the mere use of HTTP-based connections is sufficient.Affected if The client connects to any HTTP server that could potentially send chunked transfer-encoded responses, which is standard HTTP behavior.
You are affected if Pidgin version is 2.10.7 or below, or matches any of the specific affected versions (2.0.0 through 2.4.0 series), and you use any HTTP-based protocol or transport where a remote server could send malformed chunked transfer-coding.
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 dataUpgrade Pidgin to version 2.10.8 or later which contains the patched libpurple library to address the buffer overflow in chunked transfer-coding parsing.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-6485 — 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-2013-6485 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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