# CVE-2017-5839: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can cause a denial of service via stack overflow in GStreamer's RIFF media handling by exploiting nested WAVEFORMATEX structures.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 9 Feb 2017
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2017-5839, DEBIAN-CVE-2017-5839, GHSA-cc95-pv6q-rgmh, UBUNTU-CVE-2017-5839

## What is CVE-2017-5839?

CVE-2017-5839 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Gstreamer Gstreamer, published on 9 Feb 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The gst_riff_create_audio_caps function in gst-libs/gst/riff/riff-media.c in gst-plugins-base in GStreamer before 1.10.3 does not properly limit recursion, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (stack overflow and crash) via vectors involving nested WAVEFORMATEX.

Weakness: CWE-674 (Uncontrolled Recursion)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-5839?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Gstreamer Gstreamer.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-5839?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2017-5839 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-5839 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Gstreamer Gstreamer

- [CVE-2026-3083](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-3083/): GStreamer rtpqdm2depay Out-Of-Bounds Write Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2026-3085](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-3085/): GStreamer rtpqdm2depay Heap-based Buffer Overflow Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-37328](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-37328/): GStreamer PGS File Parsing Heap-based Buffer Overflow Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-37329](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-37329/): GStreamer SRT File Parsing Heap-based Buffer Overflow Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-38103](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-38103/): GStreamer RealMedia File Parsing Integer Overflow Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-5839 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-5839 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Gstreamer Gstreamer, published on 9 Feb 2017. 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-2017-5839 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Gstreamer Gstreamer. 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-2017-5839/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-5839/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-5839
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-5839
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-5839

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-5839/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.