CVE-2011-2161: The ape_read_header function in ape.c in libavformat in FFmpeg before 0.5.4, as used in MPlayer, VideoLAN V...

Security readout for executives and security teams

A malicious APE audio file could crash software that uses older FFmpeg libavformat code. The business impact is denial of service, not data theft, based on the provided sources. Risk is mainly for legacy media players, transcoders, or content-processing workflows that still parse untrusted Monkey's Audio files with vulnerable FFmpeg code. Exposure is most likely in legacy desktop media players, servers, or batch-processing pipelines that accept untrusted APE files and use FFmpeg before 0.5.4 or bundled vulnerable libavformat code. Treat this as a legacy denial-of-service issue. Prioritize if external users can upload media or if media-processing availability matters operationally. It is lower urgency than code execution vulnerabilities absent evidence of active exploitation. Mitigation focus: Upgrade FFmpeg/libavformat to 0.5.4 or later where applicable.; Update MPlayer, VLC, or other bundled-FFmpeg products using vendor guidance.; Inventory media-processing systems that accept user-supplied APE files..

Prepared

Jun 28, 2026, 01:17 UTC (UTC+00:00)

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