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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2017-14632

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2017-09-21
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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
Xiph.Org libvorbis 1.3.5 allows Remote Code Execution upon freeing uninitialized memory in the function vorbis_analysis_headerout() in info.c when vi->channels<=0, a similar issue to Mozilla bug 550184.

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

Xiph.Org libvorbis 1.3.5 contains a critical memory corruption vulnerability in vorbis_analysis_headerout() in info.c where uninitialized memory is freed when vi->channels <= 0, allowing remote code execution. This is a use-after-free condition triggered by malformed vorbis files with invalid channel counts.

MitigationUpgrade libvorbis to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not feasible, implement input validation to reject audio files with invalid (zero or negative) channel values before passing to vorbis_analysis_headerout().

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= 9.0
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 14.04= 16.04= 17.10
LibvorbisApplication
Affected:= 1.3.5

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:3.1/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 installed libvorbis version
    Run 'pkg-config --modversion vorbis' or check via package manager: 'dpkg -l | grep libvorbis' (Debian/Ubuntu) or 'rpm -q libvorbis' (Red Hat). Also check the shared library file /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libvorbis.so.0 or similar path.
    Affected if Version equals 1.3.5 specifically
  2. Determine if applications process untrusted vorbis input
    Audit media applications (audio players, converters, editors, web services) that link against libvorbis. Check if they accept vorbis files from untrusted sources such as user uploads, network streams, or external URLs.
    Affected if Applications using libvorbis process vorbis files from untrusted or unverified sources without prior validation
  3. Check for channel validation in vorbis processing code
    If you have access to application source code that uses libvorbis, search for calls to vorbis_analysis_headerout() and verify whether channel values (vi->channels) are validated before being passed. Look for checks ensuring channels > 0.
    Affected if Code calls vorbis_analysis_headerout without validating that channel count is positive (greater than zero)

Environment is affected if libvorbis version 1.3.5 is installed AND any application uses it to process vorbis files from untrusted sources without validating that the channel count is a positive value.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade libvorbis to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not feasible, implement input validation to reject audio files with invalid (zero or negative) channel values before passing to vorbis_analysis_headerout().

Recommended fix High confidence

libvorbis 1.3.6 or later stable release

  1. 1. Identify the libvorbis package version on the system using package manager queries (e.g., dpkg -l libvorbis0, apt-cache policy libvorbis0)
  2. 2. Update the package repository index: apt-get update
  3. 3. Upgrade libvorbis to the patched version: apt-get install --only-upgrade libvorbis0 (or libvorbis-dev if development headers are installed)
  4. 4. Verify the installed version is later than 1.3.5 and includes the security fix
  5. 5. Restart any applications or services that link against libvorbis to ensure they use the patched library
  6. 6. Reboot the system if libvorbis is used by critical system components or libraries that cannot be individually restarted
Caveat Minimal risk; this is a security patch fix. Standard regression testing of audio decoding functionality is recommended.

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

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,400
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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-2017-14632 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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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