Description
FFmpeg before 8.1.3 contains an infinite loop vulnerability in the HLS demuxer that allows remote attackers to cause denial of service because parse_playlist() accepts Master Playlist tags inside Media Playlists. Attackers can trick victims into opening a crafted self-referencing playlist that endlessly adds variants in hls_read_header(), causing unbounded CPU and I/O consumption.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| FFmpeg | FFmpeg | < 8.1.3 | 8.1.3 |
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 14 | ffmpeg | 7:9.0.2-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | ffmpeg | No fix yet | — |
| Debian 12 | ffmpeg | No fix yet | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.10 | ffmpeg | No fix yet | — |
Show 7 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu Pro 26.04 LTS | ffmpeg | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS | ffmpeg | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS | ffmpeg | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS | ffmpeg | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS | ffmpeg | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS | ffmpeg | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS | libav | No fix yet | — |
Wolfi
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfi rolling | ffmpeg-7 +2 | No fix yet | — |
Advisories 1
- WID-SEC-2026-3820 ffmpeg: Mehrere Schwachstellen BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · Oct 8, 2026
References
- Patch Commit patch
- Backport to release/9.0 patch
- Backport to release/8.1 patch
- https://code.ffmpeg.org/FFmpeg/FFmpeg/pulls/23618 patch
- https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg/blob/n8.1.2/libavformat/hls.c#L866 technical-description
- https://gist.github.com/OxBat/59574a2940092cda1b6e76bbf96f53d0 exploit
- https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg product
- VulnCheck Advisory: FFmpeg before 8.1.3 HLS Demuxer Infinite Loop via Self-Referencing Playlist third-party-advisory