dbcve.org
Streaming MediaApplication · Live555

CVE-2013-6933

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-01-23
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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 parseRTSPRequestString function in Live Networks Live555 Streaming Media 2011.08.13 through 2013.11.25, as used in VideoLAN VLC Media Player, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a (1) space or (2) tab character at the beginning of an RTSP message, which triggers an integer underflow, infinite loop, and 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 confidence

A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the parseRTSPRequestString function of Live555 Streaming Media library (versions 2011.08.13 through 2013.11.25), as used in VLC Media Player. When a space or tab character appears at the beginning of an RTSP message, it triggers an integer underflow that leads to an infinite loop and subsequent buffer overflow. This can be exploited remotely for denial of service (crash) and potentially arbitrary code execution.

MitigationUpdate Live555 Streaming Media library to a version after 2013.11.25, or update VLC Media Player to a version that includes the patched Live555 library. Network filtering of malformed RTSP messages can provide interim protection.

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
Streaming MediaApplication
Affected:= 2011-08-13= 2011-08-20= 2011-08-22= 2011-09-02= 2011-09-19= 2011-10-05= 2011-10-09= 2011-10-18= 2011-10-27= 2011-11-02= 2011-11-08= 2011-11-20

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. Identify Live555 library version
    Locate the Live555 library files (typically named 'liblive555.so' on Linux, 'live555.dll' on Windows, or check package manager) and query its version information using 'strings' or file properties, or check the library's about/version documentation
    Affected if The library version falls between 2011-08-13 and 2013-11-25 inclusive (any of the listed affected versions)
  2. Identify VLC Media Player version
    Check VLC installation version via 'vlc --version', Help > About in the GUI, or program properties. Note that VLC bundles the Live555 library internally
    Affected if VLC version includes the vulnerable Live555 library (versions that ship with Live555 between 2013-11-25 and earlier)
  3. Verify RTSP handling is enabled
    Check if RTSP protocol handling modules are loaded in VLC or if the Live555 RTSP server/client functionality is actively used. Look for RTSP-related configuration files or streaming setups
    Affected if RTSP modules are loaded and the system processes incoming RTSP requests
  4. Check for vulnerable parseRTSPRequestString function
    If binary analysis tools are available, examine the Live555 or VLC binary for the parseRTSPRequestString function and verify it contains the vulnerable code pattern (space/tab leading to integer underflow)
    Affected if The function contains the vulnerable code and the service accepts RTSP connections

You are affected if your Live555 library version is between 2011-08-13 and 2013-11-25, or your VLC version bundles a vulnerable Live555 library, AND your system has RTSP functionality enabled and processes RTSP traffic.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update Live555 Streaming Media library to a version after 2013.11.25, or update VLC Media Player to a version that includes the patched Live555 library. Network filtering of malformed RTSP messages can provide interim protection.

Fix this in Streaming Media Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,080
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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-2013-6933 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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