Input validation error in FFmpeg - CVE-2012-2802
Published: September 11, 2012 / Updated: June 8, 2025
Vulnerability identifier: #VU43574
CSH Severity: High
CVSS v4: 8.6 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2012-2802
CWE-ID: CWE-20
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a remote non-authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code.
Unspecified vulnerability in the ac3_decode_frame function in libavcodec/ac3dec.c in FFmpeg before 0.11 and Libav 0.8.x before 0.8.4 has unknown impact and attack vectors, related to the "number of output channels" and "out of array writes."
Affected software
FFmpeg
Ubuntu
libavformat53 (Ubuntu package)
libavcodec53 (Ubuntu package)
Ubuntu
libavformat53 (Ubuntu package)
libavcodec53 (Ubuntu package)
How to mitigate CVE-2012-2802
Install update from vendor's website.
FFmpeg - update to 0.11
libavformat53 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 4:0.8.4-0ubuntu0.12.04.1, 6:0.8.4-0ubuntu0.12.10.1
libavcodec53 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 4:0.8.4-0ubuntu0.12.04.1, 6:0.8.4-0ubuntu0.12.10.1
libavformat53 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 4:0.8.4-0ubuntu0.12.04.1, 6:0.8.4-0ubuntu0.12.10.1
libavcodec53 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 4:0.8.4-0ubuntu0.12.04.1, 6:0.8.4-0ubuntu0.12.10.1
External References
- http://ffmpeg.org/security.html
- http://git.videolan.org/?p=ffmpeg.git;a=commitdiff;h=2c22701c371c2f3dea21fcdbb97c981939fb77af
- http://libav.org/releases/libav-0.8.4.changelog
- http://libav.org/releases/libav-0.8.5.changelog
- http://secunia.com/advisories/50468
- http://secunia.com/advisories/51257
- http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2013:079
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/08/31/3
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/09/02/4
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/55355
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1705-1