CVE-2020-13904

Application crash via freed HLS segment URL

Published Jun 7, 2020 · Updated Aug 4, 2024

Use-after-free in FFmpeg 2.8 and 4.2.3 allows context-dependent attackers to crash media-processing applications via a crafted M3U8 file. During HLS playlist reloads, parse_playlist frees the current segment URL while av_probe_input_format3 still dereferences that URL for input probing. A victim application must parse attacker-controlled HLS media; the documented impact is a process crash, with no confidentiality or integrity impact.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability1.29%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Use-after-free in FFmpeg 2.8 and 4.2.3 allows context-dependent attackers to crash media-processing applications via a crafted M3U8 file. During HLS playlist reloads, parse_playlist frees the current segment URL while av_probe_input_format3 still dereferences that URL for input probing. A victim application must parse attacker-controlled HLS media; the documented impact is a process crash, with no confidentiality or integrity impact.

The record

CVE
CVE-2020-13904
Published
Jun 7, 2020
Updated
Aug 4, 2024
Vendor
Unknown vendor
Product
Unknown product
Classifications
CWE-416
Attack vector
local
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jun 7, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 4, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Affected buildAffected product and version details are unavailable.

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.

Published CVSS scores

5.5Canonical UbuntuCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-416Use After Free

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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