CVE-2023-49096
Argument Injection in FFmpeg codec parameters in Jellyfin
Jellyfin is a Free Software Media System for managing and streaming media. In affected versions there is an argument injection in the VideosController, specifically the /Videos/<itemId>/stream and /Videos/<itemId>/stream.<container> endpoints which are present in the current Jellyfin version. Additional endpoints in the AudioController might also be vulnerable, as they differ only slightly in execution. Those endpoints are reachable by an unauthenticated user. In order to exploit this vulnerability an unauthenticated attacker has to guess an itemId, which is a completely random GUID. It’s a very unlikely case even for a large media database with lots of items. Without an additional information leak, this vulnerability shouldn’t be directly exploitable, even if the instance is reachable from the Internet. There are a lot of query parameters that get accepted by the method. At least two of those, videoCodec and audioCodec are vulnerable to the argument injection. The values can be traced through a lot of code and might be changed in the process. However, the fallback is to always use them as-is, which means we can inject our own arguments. Those arguments land in the command line of FFmpeg. Because UseShellExecute is always set to false, we can’t simply terminate the FFmpeg command and execute our own. It should only be possible to add additional arguments to FFmpeg, which is powerful enough as it stands. There is probably a way of overwriting an arbitrary file with malicious content. This vulnerability has been addressed in version 10.8.13. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- Low
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
7.7
Argument Injection in FFmpeg codec parameters in Jellyfin
Jellyfin is a Free Software Media System for managing and streaming media. In affected versions there is an argument injection in the VideosController, specifically the /Videos/<itemId>/stream and /Videos/<itemId>/stream.<container> endpoints which are present in the current Jellyfin version. Additional endpoints in the AudioController might also be vulnerable, as they differ only slightly in execution. Those endpoints are reachable by an unauthenticated user. In order to exploit this vulnerability an unauthenticated attacker has to guess an itemId, which is a completely random GUID. It’s a very unlikely case even for a large media database with lots of items. Without an additional information leak, this vulnerability shouldn’t be directly exploitable, even if the instance is reachable from the Internet. There are a lot of query parameters that get accepted by the method. At least two of those, videoCodec and audioCodec are vulnerable to the argument injection. The values can be traced through a lot of code and might be changed in the process. However, the fallback is to always use them as-is, which means we can inject our own arguments. Those arguments land in the command line of FFmpeg. Because UseShellExecute is always set to false, we can’t simply terminate the FFmpeg command and execute our own. It should only be possible to add additional arguments to FFmpeg, which is powerful enough as it stands. There is probably a way of overwriting an arbitrary file with malicious content. This vulnerability has been addressed in version 10.8.13. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
CVE-2023-49096- CVSS 3.1
- 7.7 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L - Weakness
- CWE-88
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-53106
7.7
Jellyfin is a Free Software Media System for managing and streaming media. In affected versions there is an argument injection in the VideosController, specifically the /Videos/<itemId>/stream and /Videos/<itemId>/stream.<container> endpoints which are present in the current Jellyfin version. Additional endpoints in the AudioController might also be vulnerable, as they differ only slightly in execution. Those endpoints are reachable by an unauthenticated user. In order to exploit this vulnerability an unauthenticated attacker has to guess an itemId, which is a completely random GUID. It’s a very unlikely case even for a large media database with lots of items. Without an additional information leak, this vulnerability shouldn’t be directly exploitable, even if the instance is reachable from the Internet. There are a lot of query parameters that get accepted by the method. At least two of those, videoCodec and audioCodec are vulnerable to the argument injection. The values can be traced through a lot of code and might be changed in the process. However, the fallback is to always use them as-is, which means we can inject our own arguments. Those arguments land in the command line of FFmpeg. Because UseShellExecute is always set to false, we can’t simply terminate the FFmpeg command and execute our own. It should only be possible to add additional arguments to FFmpeg, which is powerful enough as it stands. There is probably a way of overwriting an arbitrary file with malicious content. This vulnerability has been addressed in version 10.8.13. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
EUVD-2023-53106- CVSS 3.1
- 7.7 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L - Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
7.7
Jellyfin is a Free Software Media System for managing and streaming media. In affected versions there is an argument injection in the VideosController, specifically the /Videos/<itemId>/stream and /Videos/<itemId>/stream.<container> endpoints which are present in the current Jellyfin version. Additional endpoints in the AudioController might also be vulnerable, as they differ only slightly in execution. Those endpoints are reachable by an unauthenticated user. In order to exploit this vulnerability an unauthenticated attacker has to guess an itemId, which is a completely random GUID. It’s a very unlikely case even for a large media database with lots of items. Without an additional information leak, this vulnerability shouldn’t be directly exploitable, even if the instance is reachable from the Internet. There are a lot of query parameters that get accepted by the method. At least two of those, videoCodec and audioCodec are vulnerable to the argument injection. The values can be traced through a lot of code and might be changed in the process. However, the fallback is to always use them as-is, which means we can inject our own arguments. Those arguments land in the command line of FFmpeg. Because UseShellExecute is always set to false, we can’t simply terminate the FFmpeg command and execute our own. It should only be possible to add additional arguments to FFmpeg, which is powerful enough as it stands. There is probably a way of overwriting an arbitrary file with malicious content. This vulnerability has been addressed in version 10.8.13. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
CVE-2023-49096- CVSS 3.1
- 7.7 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L - CVSS 3.1
- 8.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-88
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
7.7
Argument Injection in FFmpeg codec parameters in Jellyfin
Jellyfin is a Free Software Media System for managing and streaming media. In affected versions there is an argument injection in the VideosController, specifically the /Videos/<itemId>/stream and /Videos/<itemId>/stream.<container> endpoints which are present in the current Jellyfin version. Additional endpoints in the AudioController might also be vulnerable, as they differ only slightly in execution. Those endpoints are reachable by an unauthenticated user. In order to exploit this vulnerability an unauthenticated attacker has to guess an itemId, which is a completely random GUID. It’s a very unlikely case even for a large media database with lots of items. Without an additional information leak, this vulnerability shouldn’t be directly exploitable, even if the instance is reachable from the Internet. There are a lot of query parameters that get accepted by the method. At least two of those, videoCodec and audioCodec are vulnerable to the argument injection. The values can be traced through a lot of code and might be changed in the process. However, the fallback is to always use them as-is, which means we can inject our own arguments. Those arguments land in the command line of FFmpeg. Because UseShellExecute is always set to false, we can’t simply terminate the FFmpeg command and execute our own. It should only be possible to add additional arguments to FFmpeg, which is powerful enough as it stands. There is probably a way of overwriting an arbitrary file with malicious content. This vulnerability has been addressed in version 10.8.13. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
CVE-2023-49096- CVSS 3.1
- 7.7 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L - Weakness
- CWE-88
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| first indexed | CVE List, EUVD, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2023-49096 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.7) in Jellyfin, published December 6, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.25%, the 69th percentile. No source names a fixed version.
References
github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin/security/advisories/GHSA-866x-wj5j-2vf4
github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin/issues/5415
github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin/commit/a656799dc879d16d21bf2ce7ad412ebd5d45394a
cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/88.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pass_the_hash
ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/49xxx/CVE-2023-49096.json
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-49096