CVE-2011-2161

Severity: medium (CVSS 4.3 v2.0)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 1.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2011-05-20 · updated 2026-06-16
Weakness: CWE-399

Description

The ape_read_header function in ape.c in libavformat in FFmpeg before 0.5.4, as used in MPlayer, VideoLAN VLC media player, and other products, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via an APE (aka Monkey's Audio) file that contains a header but no frames.

Affected products

FFmpeg: before 0.5.4 — fixed in 0.5.4

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: FFmpeg 0.5.4. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

http://ffmpeg.mplayerhq.hu/
http://packetstorm.linuxsecurity.com/1103-exploits/vlc105-dos.txt
https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg/commit/8312e3fc9041027a33c8bc667bb99740fdf41dd5
http://ffmpeg.mplayerhq.hu/
http://packetstorm.linuxsecurity.com/1103-exploits/vlc105-dos.txt
https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg/commit/8312e3fc9041027a33c8bc667bb99740fdf41dd5

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