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Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical

CVE-2015-1872

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-07-26
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.5.3 or later.
See remediation →
77/100
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 ff_mjpeg_decode_sof function in libavcodec/mjpegdec.c in FFmpeg before 2.5.4 does not validate the number of components in a JPEG-LS Start Of Frame segment, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds array access) or possibly have unspecified other impact via crafted Motion JPEG 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

The ff_mjpeg_decode_sof function in libavcodec/mjpegdec.c in FFmpeg before 2.5.4 fails to validate the number of components specified in a JPEG-LS Start Of Frame segment. When processing crafted Motion JPEG data with a malformed component count, the function performs out-of-bounds array access, leading to denial of service or potentially arbitrary code execution.

MitigationUpdate FFmpeg to version 2.5.4 or later to obtain the component count validation fix. If updating is not immediately feasible, restrict processing of untrusted Motion JPEG files and implement input validation at the application layer.

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
Affected:= 12.04
FfmpegApplication
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
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:M/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 installed FFmpeg version
    Run 'ffmpeg -version' or 'avconv -version' to get the exact version number of the FFmpeg/avlib installation
    Affected if The version displayed is 2.5.3 or earlier, or the package is from Ubuntu 12.04 and unpatched
  2. Check for libavcodec library version
    Run 'ffmpeg -version 2>&1 | grep libav' or examine the shared library file in /usr/lib/ (typically /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libavcodec.so.*)
    Affected if The library version is below 2.5.4, indicating the vulnerable code is present
  3. Verify Motion JPEG processing capability
    Run 'ffmpeg -formats 2>&1 | grep -i mjpeg' to confirm MJPEG demuxer/decoder is compiled in
    Affected if MJPEG format support is enabled and the system processes .mjpeg, .mov, or video files containing Motion JPEG streams
  4. Check for untrusted MJPEG input handling
    Review any applications or scripts that invoke ffmpeg/avconv to process video from untrusted sources, checking command lines for -i flags pointing to user-supplied files
    Affected if FFmpeg is used to process Motion JPEG files from untrusted or external sources without prior validation
  5. Confirm libavcodec mjpegdec.c is present
    Locate libavcodec installation (find /usr -name 'mjpegdec.c' 2>/dev/null) and check if the ff_mjpeg_decode_sof function exists in the binary
    Affected if The vulnerable function ff_mjpeg_decode_sof is present in the compiled library without the component count validation fix added in version 2.5.4

The environment is affected if FFmpeg version 2.5.3 or earlier (or the Ubuntu 12.04 package) is installed and processes Motion JPEG content from any source, since the missing component count validation in ff_mjpeg_decode_sof allows out-of-bounds array access.

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 2.5.3
Interim mitigation

Update FFmpeg to version 2.5.4 or later to obtain the component count validation fix. If updating is not immediately feasible, restrict processing of untrusted Motion JPEG files and implement input validation at the application layer.

Fix this in Ubuntu Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,380
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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-2015-1872 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
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