CVE-2025-60491 in MP4Box
Summary
by MITRE • 10/21/2026
A heap use-after-free in the dasher_flush_segment function (/filters/dasher.c) of GPAC Project/MP4Box before 2.5 allows attackers to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) via supplying a crafted MP4 file.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/21/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2019-6873 represents a critical memory management flaw within the GPAC Project's MP4Box utility, specifically located in the dasher_flush_segment function found in the source file filters/dasher.c prior to version 2.5. This issue is classified under Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) as CWE-416, which denotes Use After Free errors. Such vulnerabilities arise when a program continues to use a pointer after it has been freed, leading to unpredictable behavior that can be exploited by malicious actors. In the context of GPAC MP4Box, this flaw is triggered during the processing of multimedia files formatted in the ISO Base Media File Format (MP4), which is widely used for streaming and storing audio and video content across various digital platforms.
The technical mechanism behind this vulnerability involves improper handling of memory allocation and deallocation within the dasher_flush_segment function. When MP4Box processes a specially crafted MP4 file, it may free a specific block of memory associated with media segments while retaining references to that same memory location for subsequent operations. If an attacker supplies a malformed or maliciously constructed MP4 file containing carefully manipulated segment headers or metadata, they can induce the application to access this dangling pointer. Because the memory has already been released back to the system allocator but not zeroed out or invalidated in the program's context, accessing it results in undefined behavior. This typically manifests as an immediate crash of the application process, resulting in a Denial of Service condition where the media processing tool becomes unresponsive and requires manual restart by the user or administrator.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to environments that rely on automated video transcoding, streaming preparation, or content management systems utilizing GPAC MP4Box as part of their pipeline. Attackers can exploit this flaw remotely if they have the ability to upload malicious media files for processing. For instance, in a web-based media conversion service, an attacker could submit a crafted file that causes the server-side processor to crash repeatedly, thereby disrupting services for legitimate users and potentially consuming system resources through repeated restart attempts or log flooding associated with crashes. This aligns with MITRE ATT&CK techniques related to Resource Hijacking and Denial of Service, specifically leveraging application logic flaws rather than network-level attacks to degrade service availability.
Mitigation strategies primarily involve upgrading the GPAC MP4Box software to version 2.5 or later, where this memory management issue has been addressed by developers through improved pointer validation and lifecycle management checks. In scenarios where immediate patching is not feasible due to dependency constraints or testing requirements, organizations should implement strict input sanitization policies for any media files processed by the application. This includes validating file structures against known standards before passing them to vulnerable components, deploying network-level intrusion detection systems that can identify anomalous patterns in uploaded multimedia files, and restricting execution privileges of MP4Box processes to minimize the impact of potential crashes or further exploitation attempts. Regular security audits and static code analysis tools configured to detect CWE-416 issues are also recommended to prevent similar memory safety vulnerabilities from being introduced into media processing software ecosystems.