GStreamer AV1 Video Parser stack-based overflow

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in GStreamer. It has been classified as critical. This affects an unknown function of the component AV1 Video Parser. The manipulation leads to stack-based overflow. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2023-50186. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. No exploit is available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in GStreamer (unknown version). It has been rated as critical. This issue affects an unknown code block of the component AV1 Video Parser. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a stack-based overflow vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-121. A stack-based buffer overflow condition is a condition where the buffer being overwritten is allocated on the stack (i.e., is a local variable or, rarely, a parameter to a function). Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

GStreamer AV1 Video Parsing Stack-based Buffer Overflow Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of GStreamer. Interaction with this library is required to exploit this vulnerability but attack vectors may vary depending on the implementation. The specific flaw exists within the parsing of metadata within AV1 encoded video files. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of the length of user-supplied data prior to copying it to a fixed-length stack-based buffer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of the current process. Was ZDI-CAN-22300.

The advisory is shared at zerodayinitiative.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2023-50186 since 12/05/2023. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is needed for a successful exploitation. It demands that the victim is doing some kind of user interaction. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 03/17/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 237868 (Ubuntu 20.04 LTS / 22.04 LTS / 24.04 LTS / 24.10 / 25.04 : GStreamer Bad Plugins vulnerabilities (USN-7558-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (237868). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Multimedia Processing Software

Name

• GStreamer

License

• open-source

CPE 2.3info

• 🔍

CPE 2.2info

• 🔍

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Entryinfo

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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