CVE-2013-1997

Multiple buffer overflows in X.org libX11 1.5.99.901 (1.6 RC1) and earlier allow X servers to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via crafted length or index values to the (1) XAllocColorCells, (2) _XkbReadGetDeviceInfoReply, (3) _XkbReadGeomShapes, (4) _XkbReadGetGeometryReply, (5) _XkbReadKeySyms, (6) _XkbReadKeyActions, (7) _XkbReadKeyBehaviors, (8) _XkbReadModifierMap, (9) _XkbReadExplicitComponents, (10) _XkbReadVirtualModMap, (11) _XkbReadGetNamesReply, (12) _XkbReadGetMapReply, (13) _XimXGetReadData, (14) XListFonts, (15) XListExtensions, and (16) XGetFontPath functions.

Published: 2013-06-15 Last update: 2026-04-29 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2013-1997 is rated Moderate Risk (56.4/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.13%). Core evidence: EPSS rose +1.40% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2013-1997

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.73% 2.13% +1.40%
2 2025-07-13 1.30% 0.73% -0.57%
3 2025-03-30 1.30%

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2013-1997

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
8.6 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2013-1997

OS Trackers for CVE-2013-1997

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2013-1997 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libx11), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2013-1997
gentoo high CVE-2013-1997: 1 GLSA(s) (201405-07), 1 atom(s) (x11-base/xorg-server); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2013-1997
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2013-1997
suse medium CVE-2013-1997 severity moderate: SUSE including 67 source package names (Mesa, libX11-6-1.6.2-11.1, …), 151 product×package rows across 45 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 SP2, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 SP3, … (45 product lines)): Fixed 148, Known Not Affected 3. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2013-1997/
ubuntu medium CVE-2013-1997 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libx11), 5 status rows across 5 suites (lucid, precise, quantal, raring, upstream): released 4, pending 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2013-1997

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2013-1997

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
x libx11 <= 1.5.99.901 cpe:2.3:a:x:libx11:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
x libx11 1.5.0 cpe:2.3:a:x:libx11:1.5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2013-1997

cvelogic Threat Intelligence