# CVE-2022-46285: Denial of service in libXpm

> An attacker can cause a denial of service in applications using libXpm by providing a file with an unclosed comment, triggering an infinite loop.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/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:** 7 Feb 2023
- **Updated:** 25 Mar 2025
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2022-46285, AZL-13249, DEBIAN-CVE-2022-46285, GHSA-x5vr-48jx-h8wp, JLSEC-2026-284, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-46285, USN-5807-3

## What is CVE-2022-46285?

CVE-2022-46285 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in libXpm, published on 7 Feb 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A flaw was found in libXpm. This issue occurs when parsing a file with a comment not closed; the end-of-file condition will not be detected, leading to an infinite loop and resulting in a Denial of Service in the application linked to the library.

Weakness: CWE-835 (Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-46285?

It affects 1 product.


Products: X.org Libxpm.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-46285?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-46285 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-46285 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in libXpm

- [CVE-2016-10164](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-10164/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2022-4883](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-4883/): Command injection in libXpm (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2022-44617](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-44617/): Denial of service in libXpm (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-46285 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-46285 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in libXpm, published on 7 Feb 2023. 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-2022-46285 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: libXpm. 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-2022-46285/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-46285/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-46285
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-46285
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-46285

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-46285/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.