Heap-based Buffer OverflowWeakness · CWE-122

CVE-2025-22920

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-02-18
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
A heap buffer overflow vulnerability in FFmpeg before commit 4bf784c allows attackers to trigger a memory corruption via supplying a crafted media file in avformat when processing tile grid group streams. This can lead to a Denial of Service (DoS).

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

Heap buffer overflow vulnerability in FFmpeg's avformat component when processing tile grid group streams (commonly used in JPEG2000 and similar tiled image/video formats). Attackers can trigger memory corruption by supplying a crafted media file, leading to potential denial of service.

MitigationUpdate FFmpeg to a version that includes commit 4bf784c or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, implement input validation on media files before processing and consider sandboxing FFmpeg processing to limit impact of potential exploitation.

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

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 installed FFmpeg version
    Run 'ffmpeg -version' or 'ffmpeg -buildconf' to display the version string and build configuration
    Affected if The version predates the fix (commit 4bf784c) and you cannot confirm the vulnerability is patched
  2. Confirm avformat component is in use
    Check if FFmpeg is being used to demux or parse media files; verify the avformat library is loaded by running 'ffmpeg -formats 2>/dev/null | head -20'
    Affected if avformat handles the file parsing and is involved in processing the affected tile grid streams
  3. Determine if processing JPEG2000 or tiled image/video formats
    Inspect your media processing pipeline for files with extensions such as .jp2, .j2k, .mj2, or other JPEG2000-based formats; review logs or input files for tile-based encoding
    Affected if The vulnerability is triggered specifically when processing tile grid group streams commonly found in JPEG2000 and similar tiled formats
  4. Inspect file processing inputs for untrusted media
    Review any media files submitted to FFmpeg for processing, particularly from untrusted or external sources, looking for crafted files targeting tile grid parsing
    Affected if A crafted media file with malicious tile grid group data is processed by the vulnerable avformat code path

You are affected if you run an unpatched FFmpeg version (prior to the fix commit 4bf784c) and process JPEG2000 or other tiled image/video formats from untrusted sources using avformat.

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

Update FFmpeg to a version that includes commit 4bf784c or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, implement input validation on media files before processing and consider sandboxing FFmpeg processing to limit impact of potential exploitation.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,480
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2025-22920 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
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