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FfmpegApplication

CVE-2014-9602

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-01-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.5.1 or later.
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
libavcodec/xface.h in FFmpeg before 2.5.2 establishes certain digits and words array dimensions that do not satisfy a required mathematical relationship, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds array access) or possibly have unspecified other impact via crafted X-Face image 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 confidence

A bounds checking vulnerability exists in FFmpeg's X-Face image decoder (libavcodec/xface.h) where array dimensions for digits and words do not satisfy a required mathematical relationship. This allows out-of-bounds array access when processing crafted X-Face images, potentially leading to denial of service or arbitrary code execution.

MitigationUpgrade FFmpeg to version 2.5.2 or later. If upgrading is not feasible, disable X-Face image decoding or implement input validation to reject malformed X-Face data before processing.

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
FfmpegApplication
Affected:<= 2.5.1

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. Check installed FFmpeg version
    Run 'ffmpeg -version' or 'ffprobe -version' to identify the exact version number
    Affected if The version reported is 2.5.1 or earlier
  2. Verify X-Face decoder availability
    Run 'ffmpeg -decoders 2>/dev/null | grep -i xface' to list available decoders and confirm X-Face support is compiled in
    Affected if The X-Face decoder appears in the list of available decoders
  3. Identify X-Face image processing
    Search for any image files with .xface extension or examine application logs for X-Face decode attempts; use 'ffprobe -show_streams <file>' on suspect images to check for x-face codec
    Affected if X-Face encoded images are being processed by the FFmpeg installation

You are affected if FFmpeg version is 2.5.1 or earlier AND the X-Face decoder is enabled and processing X-Face images

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 2.5.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade FFmpeg to version 2.5.2 or later. If upgrading is not feasible, disable X-Face image decoding or implement input validation to reject malformed X-Face data before processing.

Fix this in Ffmpeg Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,720
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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-2014-9602 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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