dbcve.org
Freeware Advanced Audio Decoder 2Application · Audiocoding

CVE-2017-9222

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_parse_tag function in common/mp4ff/mp4meta.c in Freeware Advanced Audio Decoder 2 (FAAD2) 2.7 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop and CPU consumption) 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 · high confidence

A vulnerability in FAAD2 2.7's mp4ff_parse_tag function in common/mp4ff/mp4meta.c allows a crafted mp4 file to trigger an infinite loop, causing CPU exhaustion and denial of service. The issue stems from missing loop termination conditions when parsing malformed mp4 metadata tags.

MitigationUsers should avoid processing untrusted mp4 files with FAAD2 2.7. Update to a patched version of FAAD2 that fixes the loop termination logic in the mp4 tag parser.

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. Check if FAAD2 is installed
    Run 'faad --version' or 'which faad' on Linux; check Program Files on Windows for faad.exe
    Affected if FAAD2 binary is found on the system
  2. Determine the installed FAAD2 version
    Execute 'faad --version' and examine the output for version 2.7
    Affected if The version displayed is exactly 2.7
  3. Check if mp4 file processing is enabled
    Look for FAAD2 configuration files or examine how faad is invoked (command line usage, transcoding scripts, media server configs)
    Affected if FAAD2 is configured to process mp4 files (the vulnerable code path in mp4ff_parse_tag is used when parsing mp4 metadata)
  4. Identify if untrusted mp4 sources are processed
    Review logs or media processing workflows that feed mp4 files to FAAD2
    Affected if FAAD2 processes mp4 files from untrusted or user-uploaded sources

A system is affected if FAAD2 version 2.7 is installed AND is used to parse mp4 files, particularly from untrusted sources, since the infinite loop triggers when processing malformed mp4 metadata tags.

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

Users should avoid processing untrusted mp4 files with FAAD2 2.7. Update to a patched version of FAAD2 that fixes the loop termination logic in the mp4 tag parser.

Fix this in Freeware Advanced Audio Decoder 2 Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-9222 — 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-2017-9222 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