CVE-2026-53703
Description
A vulnerability was found in the GStreamer RealMedia demuxer (gst-plugins-ugly). When processing a RealMedia (.rm) file, the demuxer parses MDPR (media properties) chunks to configure audio streams. For audio stream header versions 4 and 5, the parser reads fields such as codec type, packet size, sample rate, channel count, and extra codec data length from fixed offsets within the chunk without first checking that the chunk contains enough data. If a malicious file provides an MDPR chunk that is too small to contain a complete audio stream header, the parser reads beyond the end of the buffer. This can cause the application to crash. In some cases, bytes read past the buffer boundary may be incorporated into stream metadata, which could result in limited information disclosure.
Statement
This flaw affects gstreamer1-plugins-ugly-free as shipped in Red Hat Enterprise Linux. RealMedia is a legacy container format with limited real-world usage. The upstream maintainer confirmed this is an out-of-bounds read that can cause crashes and may leak adjacent memory into stream metadata. No code execution or memory corruption path has been identified. No upstream fix is available yet as the surrounding rmdemux code requires a broader rewrite.
Mitigation
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 7.1 | N/A | 7.1 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Network |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | Required | N/A | Required |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | Low | N/A | Low |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | None |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H
Red Hat CVSS v3 Score Explanation
OOB read in RealMedia demuxer audio parser. Confirmed crash and possible limited info disclosure via leaked metadata. Legacy format limits exposure.
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Read Memory
An attacker could get secret values such as cryptographic keys, PII, memory addresses, or other information that could be used in additional attacks.
Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism
Out-of-bounds memory could contain memory addresses or other information that can be used to bypass ASLR and other protection mechanisms in order to improve the reliability of exploiting a separate weakness for code execution.
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
An attacker could cause a segmentation fault or crash by causing memory to be read outside of the bounds of the buffer. This is especially likely when the code reads a variable amount of data and assumes that a sentinel exists to stop the read operation, such as a NUL in a string.
Other
Technical Impact: Varies by Context
The read operation could produce other undefined or unexpected results.
Acknowledgements
Red Hat would like to thank Tianshuo Han for reporting this issue.
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