CVE-2025-60481: GPAC MP4Box NULL Pointer DoS Vulnerability

CVE-2025-60481 Overview

CVE-2025-60481 is a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability in the gf_odf_ac4_cfg_dsi_v1 function located in /odf/descriptors.c of the GPAC Project's MP4Box utility. Versions prior to 26.02.0 are affected. An attacker can trigger the flaw by supplying a crafted AC4 audio file to the parser, causing the application to crash. The issue is tracked under CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference) and results in a Denial of Service (DoS) condition. Exploitation requires local access and user interaction to process the malicious file.

Critical Impact

Processing a crafted AC4 file in MP4Box terminates the application, disrupting media processing workflows and automated transcoding pipelines.

Affected Products

• GPAC Project MP4Box versions prior to 26.02.0
• GPAC multimedia framework components that invoke gf_odf_ac4_cfg_dsi_v1
• Downstream tools and pipelines embedding vulnerable GPAC libraries

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-06-01 - CVE-2025-60481 published to the National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
• 2026-06-02 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-60481

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability resides in the gf_odf_ac4_cfg_dsi_v1 function, which parses AC4 Decoder Specific Information (DSI) version 1 descriptors during MP4 container processing. The function dereferences a pointer without validating that it has been properly initialized after parsing attacker-controlled fields from an AC4 stream. When MP4Box ingests a crafted AC4 file, the parser reaches a code path where the expected structure pointer remains NULL. The subsequent dereference triggers a segmentation fault and terminates the process.

This impacts batch media-processing environments where MP4Box runs as part of an automated pipeline. Repeated crashes can stall transcoding queues and disrupt downstream services consuming the output.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing input validation in the AC4 configuration descriptor parser. The function assumes that prior allocation or sub-structure parsing succeeded and proceeds to access fields through a pointer that can legitimately be NULL when malformed data is supplied. No defensive NULL check exists before the dereference within /odf/descriptors.c.

Attack Vector

An attacker crafts a malicious AC4 file containing malformed configuration data and delivers it to a user or system running MP4Box. When the file is opened or otherwise processed, the parser executes the vulnerable code path and crashes. The attack vector is local and requires user interaction, but does not require any privileges on the target system.

A proof-of-concept and reproduction steps are documented in the GitHub PoC Documentation and discussed in the GitHub Issue Discussion.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-60481

Indicators of Compromise

• Repeated abnormal terminations of MP4Box or processes linking libgpac when handling AC4-bearing media files
• Core dumps referencing gf_odf_ac4_cfg_dsi_v1 or /odf/descriptors.c in the call stack
• Inbound or staged media assets containing malformed AC4 audio tracks from untrusted sources

Detection Strategies

• Inspect crash logs and core files for stack frames pointing at gf_odf_ac4_cfg_dsi_v1 to confirm exploitation attempts
• Validate AC4 streams with a hardened parser or sandbox before passing files to MP4Box
• Track the installed GPAC version across hosts and flag instances older than 26.02.0

Monitoring Recommendations

• Alert on unexpected exits of media-processing workers consuming user-supplied content
• Capture process telemetry for MP4Box invocations, including command-line arguments and source file paths
• Forward parser crash signatures to a centralized data lake for correlation across hosts

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-60481

Immediate Actions Required

• Upgrade GPAC and MP4Box to version 26.02.0 or later across all systems
• Restrict MP4Box execution to trusted, validated input sources
• Run MP4Box in a sandboxed or containerized environment with resource limits to contain crashes

Patch Information

The issue is resolved in GPAC 26.02.0. The upstream fix is available in the GitHub Commit Update. Distribution maintainers should rebuild downstream packages against the patched source. Additional discussion is available via the OpenWall OSS-Security Email and InfoSec Exchange Post.

Workarounds

• Block or quarantine AC4-containing media files originating from untrusted sources until patches are applied
• Isolate media-processing workloads in ephemeral containers so a crash does not affect host stability
• Add a pre-processing validation step that rejects malformed AC4 descriptors before invoking MP4Box