CVE-2013-6490
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 · uneditedThe SIMPLE protocol functionality in Pidgin before 2.10.8 allows remote attackers to have an unspecified impact via a negative Content-Length header, which triggers a buffer overflow.
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 Pidgin's SIMPLE protocol implementation allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a negative Content-Length header field, which causes the application to mishandle memory allocation and overwrite adjacent buffer space.
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
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:L/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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Determine installed Pidgin versionOn Windows, go to Help > About Pidgin or check the executable properties. On Linux, run 'pidgin --version' or check your package manager. On macOS, right-click Pidgin.app and choose Get Info.Affected if The version is 2.10.7 or lower, or matches any of these specific 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
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Check if SIMPLE protocol plugin is loadedOn Windows/Linux, go to Tools > Plugins and look for 'SIMPLE' in the list of available plugins. On Linux, also check /usr/lib/pidgin/ or ~/.pidgin/plugins/ for libsimple.so.Affected if The SIMPLE plugin is enabled or the libsimple shared library file exists in the plugins directory
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Verify if any accounts use the SIMPLE protocolOpen Accounts > Manage Accounts and check the Protocol column. Look for 'SIMPLE' or 'SIP/SIMPLE' as the protocol type for any configured accounts.Affected if There is an active account configured to use the SIMPLE protocol
You are affected if your Pidgin version falls within the vulnerable range AND you have the SIMPLE protocol enabled or configured as an account.
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 Pidgin to version 2.10.8 or later to obtain the patched SIMPLE protocol handler.
Pidgin 2.10.8
- Check current Pidgin version by going to Help > About or running 'pidgin --version'
- Backup your Pidgin configuration directory (typically ~/.purple on Linux)
- Upgrade Pidgin to version 2.10.8 or later using your system's package manager
- Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the version again
- Restart Pidgin to ensure the new version is fully loaded
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-6490 — 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-2013-6490 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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