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Gstreamer CVE-2021-3497

HIGH
Use After Free (CWE-416)
2021-04-19 secalert@redhat.com
7.8
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
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Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY
7.8 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.

CVSS VectorNVD

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

3
Analysis Generated
Mar 17, 2026 - 20:45 vuln.today
Patch released
Mar 17, 2026 - 20:45 nvd
Patch available
CVE Published
Apr 19, 2021 - 21:15 nvd
HIGH 7.8

DescriptionCVE.org

GStreamer before 1.18.4 might access already-freed memory in error code paths when demuxing certain malformed Matroska files.

AnalysisAI

A use-after-free vulnerability exists in GStreamer's Matroska demuxer that can be triggered when processing malformed video files, potentially allowing attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause application crashes. The vulnerability affects GStreamer versions before 1.18.4 and requires local access with user interaction to exploit. With an EPSS score of only 0.18% and no KEV listing, this vulnerability has low real-world exploitation probability despite its high CVSS score of 7.8.

Technical ContextAI

GStreamer is a widely-used multimedia framework that provides libraries for handling audio and video streams across Linux and other platforms. The vulnerability occurs in the Matroska (MKV) file format demuxer component, where error handling code paths can access memory that has already been freed (CWE-416: Use After Free). This class of vulnerability occurs when a program continues to use a pointer after the memory it references has been deallocated, leading to unpredictable behavior including potential code execution. The affected CPE entries indicate this impacts GStreamer on Debian Linux 9.0 and 10.0, as well as Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0 and 8.0.

RemediationAI

Upgrade GStreamer to version 1.18.4 or later, which contains the fix for this vulnerability. Patches are available from the vendor as noted in the Red Hat Bugzilla report at https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1945339. For Debian users, apply the security updates referenced in DSA-4900 at https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-4900. As a temporary mitigation until patching is complete, avoid processing untrusted or potentially malicious Matroska (MKV) files, and consider implementing sandboxing for media processing applications to limit the impact of potential exploitation.

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CVE-2021-3497 vulnerability details – vuln.today

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