Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This vulnerability can crash GPAC MP4Box v1.1.0 through a heap buffer overflow while parsing filter arguments. The public record frames the impact as denial of service, not data theft or remote takeover. Business urgency is highest where MP4Box processes untrusted media in automated services.
Executive priority
Prioritize if GPAC MP4Box is used in customer-facing or automated media processing. For purely offline, trusted-file use, urgency is lower, but version discovery and vendor patch review are still warranted.
Technical view
CVE-2021-40942 is a heap-buffer-overflow in GPAC MP4Box v1.1.0 filter_parse_dyn_args at filter_core/filter.c:1454. Public CVE text says it can cause denial of service. The sources do not provide CVSS, CWE, affected CPEs, a fixed version, or evidence of code execution.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely in media processing pipelines, upload handlers, CI jobs, or backend services that run GPAC MP4Box v1.1.0 against files or filter arguments supplied by users or third parties.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. The public issue is the cited reference. Treat this as a crash-oriented parsing bug unless vendor or later research establishes broader impact.
Researcher notes
The public evidence is sparse: product and version are named in the description, while formal affected-product metadata is absent. Do not assume broader GPAC versions, active exploitation, or remediation details without checking upstream GPAC advisories or commits.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory GPAC and MP4Box versions across servers, containers, and build images.
- Avoid processing untrusted media with MP4Box v1.1.0 until vendor guidance is reviewed.
- Check GPAC upstream issue and release notes for the fixed version or workaround.
- Run MP4Box processing in isolated, resource-limited workers where untrusted input is unavoidable.
- Monitor media processing jobs for abnormal crashes or repeated malformed input failures.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether any deployed job invokes GPAC MP4Box v1.1.0.
- Check package manifests, container images, and worker hosts for GPAC binaries.
- Review upload and media-processing paths for untrusted file handling.
- Verify whether compensating isolation limits service impact from MP4Box crashes.
- Document findings because public metadata lacks CVSS, CPEs, and patch details.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CVE-2021-40942 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://github.com/gpac/gpac/issues/1908CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.