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XpdfApplication · Xpdfreader

CVE-2022-48545

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-08-22
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
An infinite recursion in Catalog::findDestInTree can cause denial of service for xpdf 4.02.

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 xpdf 4.02 where the Catalog::findDestInTree function enters an infinite recursion when processing specially crafted PDF files. This causes the application to consume excessive stack space and hang, rendering it unresponsive.

MitigationUpgrade xpdf to version 4.02 or later if a patch is available; otherwise, implement a recursion depth limit or convert the recursive algorithm to an iterative approach in the findDestInTree function.

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
XpdfApplication
Affected:= 4.02

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:3.1/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 xpdf is installed
    Run 'which xpdf' or 'dpkg -l | grep xpdf' (Debian) / 'rpm -qa | grep xpdf' (RHEL) to see if the xpdf package is present on the system
    Affected if xpdf is not installed on the system
  2. Determine the installed xpdf version
    Run 'xpdf -v' or 'xpdf -version' to display the version number of the installed xpdf binary
    Affected if The displayed version is exactly 4.02 (the vulnerable version)
  3. Identify the xpdf package source
    Check if xpdf was installed via system package manager ('dpkg -s xpdf' or 'rpm -qi xpdf') or built from source; also note the file path returned by 'which xpdf'
    Affected if The installed version is 4.02 from any source (package manager or compiled from source)

Your environment is affected if xpdf version 4.02 is installed and capable of processing PDF files, since the vulnerable Catalog::findDestInTree function exists in this version and can be triggered by opening a specially crafted PDF file.

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

Upgrade xpdf to version 4.02 or later if a patch is available; otherwise, implement a recursion depth limit or convert the recursive algorithm to an iterative approach in the findDestInTree function.

Fix this in Xpdf Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,090
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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-2022-48545 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data