# CVE-2009-3085: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can crash the Pidgin application by sending specially crafted XHTML-IM content with cid: images via the XMPP protocol.

- **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-2009-3085, GHSA-pqhg-j5hh-cx9v

## What is CVE-2009-3085?

CVE-2009-3085 is a medium-severity denial of service 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

The XMPP protocol plugin in libpurple in Pidgin before 2.6.2 does not properly handle an error IQ stanza during an attempted fetch of a custom smiley, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via XHTML-IM content with cid: images.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2009-3085?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Pidgin Libpurple, Pidgin Pidgin.

## How do I fix CVE-2009-3085?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2009-3085 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2009-3085 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Pidgin Pidgin

- [CVE-2009-2703](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-2703/): Null dereference in n/a (medium 5.0)
- [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-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-2009-3085 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2009-3085 is a medium-severity denial of service 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-2009-3085 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-2009-3085/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-3085/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2009-3085
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2009-3085
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2009-3085

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-3085/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.