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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2014-9746

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-06-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.5.3 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 (1) t1_parse_font_matrix function in type1/t1load.c, (2) cid_parse_font_matrix function in cid/cidload.c, (3) t42_parse_font_matrix function in type42/t42parse.c, and (4) ps_parser_load_field function in psaux/psobjs.c in FreeType before 2.5.4 do not check return values, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (uninitialized memory access and application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted font.

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

FreeType before 2.5.4 contains multiple functions (t1_parse_font_matrix, cid_parse_font_matrix, t42_parse_font_matrix, and ps_parser_load_field) that fail to check return values during font parsing. When processing crafted malicious font files, this leads to uninitialized memory access, potentially causing denial of service or unspecified further impact.

MitigationUpgrade FreeType to version 2.5.4 or later. Until then, avoid processing untrusted font files and implement input validation on font files before passing them to FreeType.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 7.0= 8.0
FreetypeApplication
Affected:<= 2.5.3

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
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 FreeType library version
    Run 'freetype-config --version' or check the library file version with 'dpkg -l | grep freetype' on Debian systems. On other systems, check /usr/include/freetype2/freetype/freetype.h for FREETYPE_VERSION or examine the shared library with 'ldd' and 'strings' on libfreetype.so
    Affected if Version returned is 2.5.3 or earlier
  2. Confirm Debian package version if applicable
    On Debian 7 or 8 systems, run 'apt-cache policy libfreetype6' to see the installed version
    Affected if Installed version shows 2.5.3 or earlier
  3. Verify if applications load FreeType
    Use 'ldd' on commonly used applications or 'grep -r libfreetype /etc/ld.so.conf.d/' to find programs that may load the library
    Affected if FreeType library is loaded by any application that processes font files
  4. Check for font processing activity
    Review application logs or monitor for processes that parse TTF, OTF, or Type1 font files, as exploitation requires processing a crafted font file
    Affected if Applications routinely process font files from untrusted sources

You are affected if FreeType version 2.5.3 or earlier is installed AND applications using FreeType process font files, including potentially untrusted ones.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 2.5.3
Interim mitigation

Upgrade FreeType to version 2.5.4 or later. Until then, avoid processing untrusted font files and implement input validation on font files before passing them to FreeType.

Recommended fix High confidence

FreeType 2.5.4 or later (all affected Debian versions should receive the patched package through standard repository updates)

  1. For Debian 7.0 and 8.0: Run 'apt-get update && apt-get install libfreetype6' to upgrade FreeType to the patched version available in the Debian repositories
  2. Verify the installed version by running 'dpkg -l | grep freetype' or 'freetype-config --version'
  3. For other Linux distributions: Upgrade the freetype package through the distribution's package manager (yum, dnf, zypper, etc.)
  4. If building from source: Download FreeType 2.5.4 or later from https://www.freetype.org/download.html, then compile and install using './configure && make && make install'
  5. Restart any services or applications that use FreeType to ensure they load the updated library
Caveat Minimal risk - this is a bug fix; however, verify compatibility with any custom font-rendering code if upgrading from significantly older versions

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation12.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing16.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
44.0 hours of engineering $7,680
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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-2014-9746 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data