CVE-2026-30998

7.5

FFmpeg · FFmpeg

A resource deallocation flaw in the FFmpeg zmqsend component allows unauthenticated remote attackers to trigger a Denial of Service through crafted input files.

Executive summary

A critical Denial of Service vulnerability in FFmpeg version 8.0.1 poses a significant risk to system availability by allowing attackers to exhaust resources via malformed input.

Vulnerability

The vulnerability is an improper resource deallocation and closure flaw located in the tools/zmqsend.c component. It allows an unauthenticated attacker to cause a Denial of Service by supplying a specially crafted input file to the application.

Business impact

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability results in a Denial of Service, which can render the affected application or system non-functional. Given the CVSS score of 7.5, this high-severity flaw threatens business continuity for any infrastructure relying on FFmpeg for media processing. Organizations may face significant operational downtime if their media pipelines are disrupted by this exploit.

Remediation

Immediate Action: Monitor official FFmpeg security channels for the release of a patched version and apply the update immediately upon availability.

Proactive Monitoring: Review application logs for crashes or unexpected termination of processing threads, especially when handling untrusted or externally sourced media files.

Compensating Controls: Implement strict input validation and sandboxing for all media processing tasks to ensure that malformed files cannot interact directly with the zmqsend component.

Exploitation status

Public Exploit Available: Yes, a published PoC exists, as the vulnerability is detailed in a technical write-up by the researcher.

Analyst recommendation

Due to the high severity of this Denial of Service vulnerability, it is imperative to identify all systems utilizing FFmpeg version 8.0.1 within your environment. While a specific patch version is currently pending, administrators should restrict input sources to trusted origins and prepare for immediate deployment of vendor-supplied updates. Maintaining visibility into the processing pipeline is essential until a permanent fix is verified and installed.

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Sources