dbcve.org
Freeware Advanced Audio Decoder 2Application · Audiocoding

CVE-2017-9221

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-06-27
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges

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 mp4ff_read_mdhd function in common/mp4ff/mp4atom.c in Freeware Advanced Audio Decoder 2 (FAAD2) 2.7 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (invalid memory read and application crash) via a crafted mp4 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 · moderate confidence

A denial of service vulnerability exists in FAAD2 2.7's mp4ff_read_mdhd function within common/mp4ff/mp4atom.c. When parsing a crafted MP4 file, the function performs an invalid memory read due to insufficient validation of the mdhd (media header) atom data, causing the application to crash.

MitigationAvoid processing untrusted or unknown MP4 files with FAAD2 2.7. Apply any available vendor patches that add proper bounds checking and validation of the mdhd atom structure before memory read operations.

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
Freeware Advanced Audio Decoder 2Application
Affected:= 2.7

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/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 checks

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

  1. Identify FAAD2 installation and version
    Run 'faad2 -v' or 'faad -V' from command line, or check package manager for installed version of faad2 package
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 2.7
  2. Locate the vulnerable mp4ff component
    Check for presence of common/mp4ff/mp4atom.c in source if compiling from source, or verify mp4ff library is linked (ldd on faad binary)
    Affected if The mp4ff parsing module is present and being used
  3. Confirm MP4 file processing capability
    Run 'faad -i <any mp4file>' to verify the tool can parse MP4 containers
    Affected if FAAD2 is configured to parse MP4 files (the mdhd atom validation flaw only triggers during MP4 parsing)

A system is affected if FAAD2 version 2.7 is installed and configured to process MP4 files, since the vulnerability lies in the MP4 container parsing routine.

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

Avoid processing untrusted or unknown MP4 files with FAAD2 2.7. Apply any available vendor patches that add proper bounds checking and validation of the mdhd atom structure before memory read operations.

Fix this in Freeware Advanced Audio Decoder 2 Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-9221 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2017-9221 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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