CVE-2010-2937 in VLC Media Player
Summary
by MITRE
The ReadMetaFromId3v2 function in taglib.cpp in the TagLib plugin in VideoLAN VLC media player 0.9.0 through 1.1.2 does not properly process ID3v2 tags, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via a crafted media file.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/21/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2010-2937 represents a critical denial of service flaw within the VideoLAN VLC media player software ecosystem. This issue resides in the TagLib plugin's ReadMetaFromId3v2 function located in the taglib.cpp file, affecting VLC versions from 0.9.0 through 1.1.2. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and improper handling of malformed ID3v2 metadata tags that are commonly found in audio files. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting specially designed media files containing maliciously formatted ID3v2 tags that trigger unexpected behavior in the media player's parsing mechanism.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when VLC attempts to read and process ID3v2 metadata from audio files during playback initialization. The ReadMetaFromId3v2 function fails to properly validate the structure and content of ID3v2 tags, leading to memory corruption or stack overflow conditions when encountering malformed data. This improper processing results in application instability and subsequent crashes, effectively rendering the media player unusable for legitimate users. The vulnerability operates at the parsing layer of the media handling pipeline, making it particularly dangerous as it can be triggered simply by opening or attempting to play a maliciously crafted file.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates significant security implications for users who may unknowingly encounter malicious media files in their digital media collections or through untrusted sources. The denial of service impact extends beyond individual user inconvenience to potentially affect larger deployments where VLC serves as a media processing component. The vulnerability's remote exploitation capability means attackers can distribute malicious files through various channels including peer-to-peer networks, web downloads, or email attachments, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where media file handling is common. This flaw directly maps to CWE-121, which describes heap-based buffer overflow conditions that occur when data is copied into a buffer without proper bounds checking, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1203 for process injection and T1499 for network denial of service attacks.
The mitigation strategies for CVE-2010-2937 primarily focus on immediate software updates and patches provided by VideoLAN to address the buffer handling issues in the TagLib plugin. Users should immediately upgrade to VLC version 1.1.3 or later where the vulnerability has been resolved through improved input validation and proper bounds checking of ID3v2 tag data. Additionally, administrators should implement file scanning mechanisms to identify and quarantine potentially malicious media files, particularly those from untrusted sources. Network-level protections can include implementing content filtering solutions that scan media files before delivery to end users, though this approach requires careful consideration of performance impacts and false positive rates. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of robust input validation in multimedia processing libraries and highlights the need for security testing of metadata parsing components within media player applications. Organizations should also consider implementing sandboxing techniques when processing untrusted media content to limit the potential impact of similar vulnerabilities in other components of their media handling infrastructure.