# CVE-2009-2703: Null dereference in n/a

> Remote IRC servers can crash Pidgin via a malformed TOPIC message, causing a denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 8 Sep 2009
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2009-2703, GHSA-v47c-w69f-367c

## What is CVE-2009-2703?

CVE-2009-2703 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Pidgin Pidgin, published on 8 Sep 2009. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

libpurple/protocols/irc/msgs.c in the IRC protocol plugin in libpurple in Pidgin before 2.6.2 allows remote IRC servers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and application crash) via a TOPIC message that lacks a topic string.

Weakness: CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2009-2703?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Pidgin Libpurple, Pidgin Pidgin.

## How do I fix CVE-2009-2703?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2009-2703 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2009-2703 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Pidgin Pidgin

- [CVE-2009-3083](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-3083/): Null dereference in n/a (medium 5.0)
- [CVE-2009-3084](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-3084/): The msn_slp_process_msg function in libpurple/protocols/msn/slpcall.c in the MSN protocol plugin in libpurple 2.6.0 and 2.6.1, as used in Pi (medium 5.0)
- [CVE-2009-3085](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-3085/): Denial of service in n/a (medium 5.0)
- [CVE-2011-3594](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-3594/): Memory corruption in n/a (medium 4.3)
- [CVE-2011-2943](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-2943/): Null dereference in n/a (medium 4.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2009-2703 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2009-2703 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Pidgin Pidgin, published on 8 Sep 2009. 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-2009-2703 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Pidgin Pidgin. 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-2009-2703/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-2703/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2009-2703
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2009-2703
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2009-2703

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-2703/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.