# CVE-2004-0891: Memory corruption in n/a

> Remote attackers can cause a crash or execute arbitrary code via crafted MSN protocol messages in the Gaim instant messaging client.

- **Severity:** Critical 10.0 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 21 Oct 2004
- **Updated:** 8 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-vxv8-px35-96ww

## What is CVE-2004-0891?

CVE-2004-0891 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in Gentoo Linux, published on 21 Oct 2004. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Buffer overflow in the MSN protocol handler for gaim 0.79 to 1.0.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via an "unexpected sequence of MSNSLP messages" that results in an unbounded copy operation that writes to the wrong buffer.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2004-0891?

It affects 4 products.


Products: Gentoo Linux, Rob Flynn Gaim, Slackware Slackware Linux, Ubuntu Ubuntu Linux.

## How do I fix CVE-2004-0891?

No fix has been published for CVE-2004-0891 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2004-0891 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2004-0891 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Gentoo Linux

- [CVE-2004-0914](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-0914/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2004-1037](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-1037/): Command injection in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2004-1034](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-1034/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2002-1337](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-1337/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2004-0649](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-0649/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2004-0891 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2004-0891 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in Gentoo Linux, published on 21 Oct 2004. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2004-0891 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Gentoo Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-0891/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-0891/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2004-0891
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2004-0891
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2004-0891

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-0891/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.