CVE-2024-46461
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 · uneditedVLC media player 3.0.20 and earlier is vulnerable to denial of service through an integer overflow which could be triggered with a maliciously crafted mms stream (heap based overflow). If successful, a malicious third party could trigger either a crash of VLC or an arbitrary code execution with the target user's privileges.
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 confidenceVLC media player 3.0.20 and earlier contains an integer overflow vulnerability in MMS stream parsing. When processing a maliciously crafted MMS stream, the integer overflow leads to heap-based buffer overflow, potentially allowing crash (DoS) or arbitrary code execution with the user's privileges.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify VLC media player is installedLocate the VLC executable on the system. On Windows, check common installation paths like C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe. On Linux, run 'which vlc' or check /usr/bin/vlc. On macOS, check /Applications/VLC.app.Affected if VLC is not found on the system, then this CVE does not apply.
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Determine the installed VLC versionRun 'vlc --version' from the command line, or right-click the vlc.exe file and view Properties > Details to see the File Version. On Linux, also try 'vlc -version'.Affected if The version displayed is 3.0.20 or any earlier version (such as 3.0.19, 3.0.18, etc.).
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Compare the version to the affected rangeReview the version number obtained. The CVE states that versions 3.0.20 and earlier are affected. Versions newer than 3.0.20 (such as 3.0.21 and later) are not affected.Affected if The installed version is 3.0.20 or earlier.
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Check if MMS streaming functionality is accessibleIn VLC, go to Media > Open Network Stream (or press Ctrl+N). Look for MMS:// or MMSH:// protocol options in the network stream dialog.Affected if MMS protocol input fields are available and the user can enter MMS stream URLs.
The system is affected if VLC media player version 3.0.20 or earlier is installed and the MMS streaming feature is accessible for processing network streams.
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.
dbcve · scopedUpdate VLC media player to a version newer than 3.0.20. Avoid opening untrusted MMS streams from unknown sources until the update is applied.
VLC media player 3.0.21 (or later in the 3.0.x branch)
- 1. Open VLC media player and go to 'Help' > 'Check for Updates' to see if version 3.0.21 or later is available for your platform.
- 2. Alternatively, download the latest VLC 3.0.x release (3.0.21 or later) from the official VideoLAN website: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/
- 3. Install the new version, ensuring you close any running VLC instances before installation.
- 4. After upgrading, verify the new version by opening VLC and checking 'Help' > 'About VLC media player' shows version 3.0.21 or newer.
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-46461 — 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-2024-46461 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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