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LibxfontApplication · X

CVE-2015-1804

HIGH · 8.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-03-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.4.8 or later.
See remediation →
91/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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 bdfReadCharacters function in bitmap/bdfread.c in X.Org libXfont before 1.4.9 and 1.5.x before 1.5.1 does not properly perform type conversion for metrics values, which allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds memory access) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted BDF font file.

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

The bdfReadCharacters function in libXfont's bitmap/bdfread.c fails to properly perform type conversion for metrics values when parsing BDF (Bitmap Distribution Format) font files. This improper type conversion allows a crafted BDF font file to trigger out-of-bounds memory access, leading to denial of service and potential arbitrary code execution by remote authenticated users.

MitigationUpdate libXfont to version 1.4.9 or 1.5.1 or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict or disable loading of untrusted BDF font files and limit font path access to trusted sources.

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
LibxfontApplication
Affected:<= 1.4.8= 1.5.0

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
M
Authentication
Single
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed libXfont version
    Run 'rpm -q libXfont' or 'dpkg -l libxfont' or check '/usr/lib/libXfont.so*' with 'ldd --version' or examine the library file directly
    Affected if Version is 1.4.8 or lower, or exactly 1.5.0
  2. Confirm BDF font parsing is accessible
    Check if libXfont is loaded by X server or font server processes via 'ps aux | grep -E "xfs|Xorg"' and verify font path configuration in '/etc/X11/fs/config' or 'xset -q'
    Affected if BDF font loading is enabled and accessible to processes using libXfont
  3. Inspect font path for BDF font files
    Examine font directories listed in font path (commonly /usr/share/fonts or custom paths) for .bdf files using 'find /usr/share/fonts -name "*.bdf" 2>/dev/null'
    Affected if Untrusted or user-supplied BDF font files can be loaded from the configured font path

Your environment is affected if libXfont version is 1.4.8 or lower, or exactly 1.5.0, AND BDF font files can be loaded from an accessible font path.

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 1.4.8
Interim mitigation

Update libXfont to version 1.4.9 or 1.5.1 or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict or disable loading of untrusted BDF font files and limit font path access to trusted sources.

Fix this in Libxfont Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
24.0 hours of engineering $4,160
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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-2015-1804 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
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