Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical
CVE-2014-8547
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 · uneditedlibavcodec/gifdec.c in FFmpeg before 2.4.2 does not properly compute image heights, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds access) or possibly have unspecified other impact via crafted GIF 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 confidenceFFmpeg's GIF decoder (libavcodec/gifdec.c) fails to properly validate or compute image height values when processing GIF files. This allows specially crafted GIF data with malicious height values to trigger out-of-bounds memory access, potentially leading to denial of service or arbitrary code execution.
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
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
= 12.04<= 2.4.1= 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= 0.4.6CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed FFmpeg versionRun 'ffmpeg -version' or 'avconv -version' and note the version number in the outputAffected if Version is 2.4.1 or earlier, or matches 0.3.x (0.3 through 0.3.4) or 0.4.x (0.4.0, 0.4.2-0.4.6) series
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Check if GIF decoding capability existsRun 'ffmpeg -codecs 2>/dev/null | grep -i gif' or 'ffmpeg -formats 2>/dev/null | grep -i gif' to confirm GIF demuxer and decoder are compiled inAffected if GIF decoder is available and the tool processes GIF input files
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Identify processes or tools using libavcodec for GIFCheck for any application that links to libavcodec and processes GIF files - look for running processes or scripts that call ffmpeg/avconv with GIF inputAffected if Any tool using the vulnerable libavcodec library processes GIF files
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Check Ubuntu package version if applicableOn Ubuntu systems, run 'dpkg -l | grep ffmpeg' or 'apt-cache policy ffmpeg' to get the installed package versionAffected if Package version corresponds to Ubuntu 12.04 default ffmpeg package
You are affected if you run any FFmpeg version 2.4.1 or earlier, or any 0.3.x/0.4.x version, that has the GIF decoder enabled and processes GIF files
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 FFmpeg to version 2.4.2 or later to obtain the fixed gifdec.c implementation. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, consider restricting GIF processing or using input validation before passing GIF files to FFmpeg.
Fix this in Ubuntu Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $2,224.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-8547 — 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-2014-8547 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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