CVE-2023-6603 | Ffmpeg: null pointer dereference in ffmpeg hls parsing

Exp

A flaw was found in FFmpeg's HLS playlist parsing. This vulnerability allows a denial of service via a maliciously crafted HLS playlist that triggers a null pointer dereference during initialization.

Published: 2024-12-31 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-6603 is rated Exploit Available (59.6/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.53%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2023-6603

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-6603

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 0.17% 0.53% +0.36%
2 2026-02-08 0.43% 0.17% -0.25%
3 2026-01-20 — 0.43% —

Full EPSS history (23 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-6603

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-6603

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-6603

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2023-6603: 1 source package rows (ffmpeg); 96 state rows across 2 repos (3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 0, open 96. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-6603
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-6603 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (ffmpeg), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-6603
suse high — https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-6603/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-6603 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (ffmpeg, libav), 17 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 6, released 4, ignored 2, needed 2, needs-triage 2, not-affected 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-6603

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-6603

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
ffmpeg ffmpeg >= 2.0, <= 6.0 cpe:2.3:a:ffmpeg:ffmpeg:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-6603

URL Tags
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2334335 Exploit Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence