CVE-2019-17542 Memory corruption in n/a
A heap-based buffer overflow in FFmpeg's VQA decoder allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service via crafted media files.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2019-17542?
CVE-2019-17542 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 14 Oct 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
FFmpeg before 4.2 has a heap-based buffer overflow in vqa_decode_chunk because of an out-of-array access in vqa_decode_init in libavcodec/vqavideo.c.
Weakness: CWE-787
Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-17542?
It affects 3 products.
Products include Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Debian Debian Linux, Ffmpeg Ffmpeg.
How do I fix CVE-2019-17542?
Upgrade to a fixed version.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2019-17542 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-17542 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux
Sources
Also known as CLEANSTART-2024-CT47092, DEBIAN-CVE-2019-17542, GHSA-hmwh-65r2-r55j, JLSEC-2025-107, UBUNTU-CVE-2019-17542.