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CVE-2016-10198 Gstreamer CVE debrief

CVE-2016-10198 is a denial-of-service issue in GStreamer’s gst-plugins-good AAC parser. According to NVD, a crafted audio file can trigger an invalid memory read and crash in gst_aac_parse_sink_setcaps, affecting GStreamer versions up to 1.10.2. The issue was fixed in GStreamer 1.10.3.

Vendor
Gstreamer
Product
Unknown
CVSS
MEDIUM 5.5
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2017-02-09
Original CVE updated
2026-05-13
Advisory published
2017-02-09
Advisory updated
2026-05-13

Who should care

Administrators and developers running GStreamer-based applications that process AAC or other untrusted media files, especially where gst-plugins-good version 1.10.2 or earlier may be present.

Technical summary

NVD classifies this as CWE-125 (out-of-bounds/invalid memory read) in gst/audioparsers/gstaacparse.c, specifically the gst_aac_parse_sink_setcaps function in gst-plugins-good. The vulnerable package range is listed as GStreamer versions through 1.10.2, with the fix released in 1.10.3. The NVD CVSS 3.0 vector is AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H, indicating availability impact from a crash and that user interaction is required.

Defensive priority

Medium. This is a crash-only vulnerability, but it can be triggered by untrusted media handling and may affect desktop, server, or embedded deployments that auto-process audio content.

Recommended defensive actions

  • Upgrade GStreamer to 1.10.3 or later if you are on a affected 1.10.x line.
  • Verify whether applications bundle or statically link gst-plugins-good, not just whether the OS package is patched.
  • Review any workflows that ingest untrusted AAC or other media files and reduce automatic processing where practical.
  • Use vendor advisories and distro security notices to confirm backported fixes for your platform.
  • If you cannot upgrade immediately, treat unknown media as untrusted input and isolate processing where feasible.

Evidence notes

NVD lists the vulnerability as a crash/invalid memory read in gst_aac_parse_sink_setcaps and maps affected versions to GStreamer up to 1.10.2. The vendor release notes for 1.10.3 are cited as the fix point. Related advisories include GNOME issue 775450, Debian DSA-3820, and Red Hat RHSA-2017:2060. Dates used here follow the CVE/NVD published date of 2017-02-09 and modified date of 2026-05-13.

Sources and references

Verified primary and authoritative sources

  • CVE-2016-10198 CVE Program record

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-10198

    CVE Program - Official CVE Program record with source-provided CVE metadata.

  • CVE-2016-10198 NVD vulnerability detail

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-10198

    NIST National Vulnerability Database - Official NIST NVD detail page and source-specific vulnerability assessment.

Supplemental references

Methodology and review provenance

AI-assisted synthesis based on stored public vulnerability evidence. System validation, approval state, and publication status do not by themselves establish human review of this revision. PatchSiren helps prioritize defensive review and does not prove exposure or remediation on any system.