CVE-2010-2498: Medium severity freetype vulnerability
Robert Swiecki reported an invalid free flaw, that could possibly corrupt the heap, in freetype. This could cause applications linked against freetype to crash (SIGABRT) or, possibly, lead to the execution of arbitrary code if an attacker were able to get a victim to load a malicious font file.
The affected code is not present in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 (freetype 2.1.4). In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and 5 this code is present, but does not cause a crash.
This issue has been given the name CVE-2010-2498.
Upstream bug report:
http://savannah.nongnu.org/bugs/index.php?30106
Upstream commit that fixes the issue:
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/freetype/freetype2.git/commit/?id=8d22746c9e5af80ff4304aef440986403a5072e2
Acknowledgements:
Red Hat would like to thank Robert Święcki of the Google Security Team for the discovery of this issue.
Other sources
The pshglyphfindstrongpoints function in pshinter/pshalgo.c in FreeType before 2.4.0 does not properly implement hinting masks, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (heap memory corruption and application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted font file that triggers an invalid free operation.
— MITRE
Affected Software
Remediation
Patch Available
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the severity of CVE-2010-2498?
CVE-2010-2498 is classified as a high severity vulnerability due to its potential to cause application crashes and execute arbitrary code.
How do I fix CVE-2010-2498?
To fix CVE-2010-2498, you should upgrade FreeType to a version newer than 2.4.0 and apply any relevant patches provided by your operating system vendor.
Which software is affected by CVE-2010-2498?
CVE-2010-2498 affects FreeType versions up to 2.4.0, as well as various Ubuntu Linux and macOS versions that utilize these libraries.
Can CVE-2010-2498 lead to remote code execution?
Yes, CVE-2010-2498 can potentially lead to remote code execution if an attacker tricks a victim into loading a malicious font.
What platforms are impacted by CVE-2010-2498?
Platforms impacted by CVE-2010-2498 include Ubuntu versions (6.06, 8.04, 9.04, 9.10, and 10.04), Debian 5.0, and versions of macOS up to 10.6.5.