CVE-2017-17555
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 · uneditedThe swri_audio_convert function in audioconvert.c in FFmpeg libswresample through 3.0.101, as used in FFmpeg 3.4.1, aubio 0.4.6, and other products, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and application crash) via a crafted audio 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 confidenceThe swri_audio_convert function in libswresample (through 3.0.101), used by FFmpeg 3.4.1 and aubio 0.4.6, contains a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability. When processing a specially crafted audio file, the function fails to validate a pointer before dereferencing it, causing a denial of service via application crash.
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= 0.4.6= 3.4.1<= 3.0.101CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check libswresample versionRun 'pkg-config --modversion swresample' or inspect the shared library file with 'ldd' or 'objdump' to find the compiled version stringAffected if The installed version is 3.0.101 or lower
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Check FFmpeg versionRun 'ffmpeg -version' to display the FFmpeg version numberAffected if The installed version is exactly 3.4.1 or the libswresample component reports version 3.0.101 or lower
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Check aubio versionRun 'aubio --version' or check the installed aubio library with 'pkg-config --modversion aubio'Affected if The installed version is exactly 0.4.6
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Identify applications using libswresampleRun 'ldd /path/to/media_player' or check which applications link against libswresample.so using 'ldconfig -p | grep swresample'Affected if Any application linked against a vulnerable libswresample version is used to process audio files
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Inspect library build dateCheck the file modification date of libswresample.so in /usr/lib or examine symbols with 'nm -D' for the swri_audio_convert functionAffected if The library binary predates the patch release for this vulnerability
You are affected if your system has libswresample version 3.0.101 or lower, FFmpeg 3.4.1, or aubio 0.4.6 installed and you use these to process audio files.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpgrade to patched versions of FFmpeg/libswresample and aubio that address this vulnerability. If upgrades are not immediately possible, implement input validation on audio files before processing and consider sandboxing media processing to limit exposure.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-17555 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-17555 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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