# CVE-2020-23903: Denial of service in n/a

> Attackers can cause a denial of service in applications using the Speex library by providing a crafted WAV file that triggers a divide-by-zero error.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 10 Nov 2021
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** ALSA-2022:7979, DEBIAN-CVE-2020-23903, GHSA-r85g-7qgq-6wrq, MGASA-2021-0550, OESA-2022-1701, RHSA-2022:7979, RLSA-2022:7979, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2020-23903, SUSE-SU-2021:3858-1, SUSE-SU-2021:3860-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-23903, USN-5280-1, openSUSE-SU-2021:1538-1, openSUSE-SU-2021:3860-1, openSUSE-SU-2024:11632-1

## What is CVE-2020-23903?

CVE-2020-23903 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 10 Nov 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

A Divide by Zero vulnerability in the function static int read_samples of Speex v1.2 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (DoS) via a crafted WAV file.

Weakness: CWE-369 (Divide By Zero)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-23903?

It affects 2 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `speex` | AlmaLinux:9 | All versions | 1.2.0-11.el9 |
| `speex-devel` | AlmaLinux:9 | All versions | 1.2.0-11.el9 |
| `speex` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 0:1.2.0-11.el9 |
| `speex-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 0:1.2.0-11.el9 |
| `speex-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 0:1.2.0-11.el9 |
| `speex-tools-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 0:1.2.0-11.el9 |
| `speex-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::crb | All versions | 0:1.2.0-11.el9 |
| `speex-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::crb | All versions | 0:1.2.0-11.el9 |
| `speex-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::crb | All versions | 0:1.2.0-11.el9 |
| `speex-tools-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::crb | All versions | 0:1.2.0-11.el9 |
| `speex` | Rocky Linux:9 | All versions | 0:1.2.0-11.el9 |
| `speex` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP2 | All versions | 1.2-3.3.1 |
| `speex` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP3 | All versions | 1.2-3.3.1 |
| `speex` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP2 | All versions | 1.2-3.3.1 |
| `speex` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP3 | All versions | 1.2-3.3.1 |
| `speex` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5 | All versions | 1.1.999_1.2rc1-24.3.1 |
| `speex` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP5 | All versions | 1.1.999_1.2rc1-24.3.1 |
| `speex` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP5 | All versions | 1.1.999_1.2rc1-24.3.1 |
| `speex` | openSUSE:Leap 15.2 | All versions | 1.2-lp152.4.3.1 |
| `speex` | openSUSE:Leap 15.3 | All versions | 1.2-3.3.1 |
| `speex` | openSUSE:Tumbleweed | All versions | 1.2-2.1 |

Products: Fedoraproject Fedora, Xiph Speex.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-23903?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2020-23903 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-23903 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Fedoraproject Fedora

- [CVE-2024-4577](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4577/): PHP-CGI OS Command Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2021-39226](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-39226/): Grafana Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-5544](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5544/): VMware ESXi and Horizon DaaS OpenSLP Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-4947](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4947/): Google Chromium V8 Type Confusion (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-4671](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4671/): Google Chromium Visuals Use-After-Free (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-23903 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-23903 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 10 Nov 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-23903 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Fedoraproject Fedora. 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-2020-23903/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-23903/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-23903
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-23903
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-23903

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-23903/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.