Description
The xterm terminal emulator in XFree86 4.2.0 and earlier allows attackers to modify the window title via a certain character escape sequence and then insert it back to the command line in the user's terminal, e.g. when the user views a file containing the malicious sequence, which could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands.
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 3.0 | xfree86 | 4.1.0-16woody1 | DSA-380 |
Advisories 1
- DSA-380 xfree86 - buffer overflows, denial of service Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
References
- DSA-380 vendor-advisory
- RHSA-2003:067 vendor-advisory
- RHSA-2003:066 vendor-advisory
- 20030224 Terminal Emulator Security Issues mailing-list
- RHSA-2003:064 vendor-advisory
- RHSA-2003:065 vendor-advisory
- 6940 vdb-entry
- terminal-emulator-window-title(11414) vdb-entry
- 20030224 Terminal Emulator Security Issues mailing-list
- [oss-security] 20240615 iTerm2 3.5.x title reporting bug mailing-list