CVE-2005-0638: xloadimage before 4.1-r2, and xli before 1.17, allows attackers to execute arbitrary commands via shell met...

Security readout for executives and security teams

CVE-2005-0638 is an old command-injection flaw in image viewers xloadimage and xli. A specially named compressed image file could cause the program to pass unsafe text to gunzip, allowing arbitrary command execution in the user's context. Business impact is mainly legacy workstation or server exposure where these tools still exist. Most exposure is likely on older Unix or Linux systems, image-processing hosts, or legacy desktops where xloadimage or xli remain installed. Modern systems may be unaffected if these packages were removed, replaced, or patched through distribution updates. Treat this as a legacy cleanup and workstation hardening issue unless these tools are present in automated processing paths. Prioritize remediation on systems that open externally supplied images or run with elevated user privileges. Mitigation focus: Upgrade xloadimage and xli using current vendor or distribution packages.; Remove xloadimage and xli where they are not operationally required.; Avoid opening untrusted compressed images with affected viewers until remediated..

Prepared

Jun 29, 2026, 23:41 UTC (UTC+00:00)

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.