family_feedbag.c in the oscar protocol plugin in libpurple in Pidgin before 2.10.1 does not perform the expected UTF-8 validation on messag…

published 2011-12-25 14 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2011-4525

cvss: 5.0; version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 4.5%; EPSS 4.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 91%
public exploits: 0; none known

family_feedbag.c in the oscar protocol plugin in libpurple in Pidgin before 2.10.1 does not perform the expected UTF-8 validation on message data, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via a crafted (1) AIM or (2) ICQ message associated with buddy-list addition.

Patch / fix

distros 2

debian red hat

pidgin Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 2.10.1-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2011-4601

pidgin RHEL 6 2.7.9-3.el6.2
finch RHEL 6 2.7.9-3.el6.2
libpurple RHEL 6 2.7.9-3.el6.2
pidgin-perl RHEL 6 2.7.9-3.el6.2
libpurple-tcl RHEL 6 2.7.9-3.el6.2
libpurple-perl RHEL 6 2.7.9-3.el6.2
pidgin RHEL 4 2.6.6-10.el4
pidgin RHEL 5 PRODUCTIVITY, RHEL 5 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4

red hat advisories RHSA-2011:1821 RHSA-2011:1820

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2011-4601 updated 2025-11-21 cvss 5.0

(libpurple): Invalid UTF-8 string handling in OSCAR messages

Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 4 finch 2.6.6-10.el4, pidgin 2.6.6-10.el4, libpurple 2.6.6-10.el4, pidgin-perl 2.6.6-10.el4, libpurple-tcl 2.6.6-10.el4, libpurple-perl 2.6.6-10.el4 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client) finch 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4, pidgin 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4, libpurple 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4, pidgin-perl 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4, libpurple-tcl 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4, libpurple-perl 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:1820
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) finch 2.7.9-3.el6.2, pidgin 2.7.9-3.el6.2, libpurple 2.7.9-3.el6.2, pidgin-perl 2.7.9-3.el6.2, libpurple-tcl 2.7.9-3.el6.2, libpurple-perl 2.7.9-3.el6.2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Optional (v. 6) finch 2.7.9-3.el6.2, pidgin 2.7.9-3.el6.2, libpurple 2.7.9-3.el6.2, pidgin-perl 2.7.9-3.el6.2, libpurple-tcl 2.7.9-3.el6.2, libpurple-perl 2.7.9-3.el6.2
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:1821
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop version 4 finch 2.6.6-10.el4, pidgin 2.6.6-10.el4, libpurple 2.6.6-10.el4, pidgin-perl 2.6.6-10.el4, libpurple-tcl 2.6.6-10.el4, libpurple-perl 2.6.6-10.el4 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 4 finch 2.6.6-10.el4, pidgin 2.6.6-10.el4, libpurple 2.6.6-10.el4, pidgin-perl 2.6.6-10.el4, libpurple-tcl 2.6.6-10.el4, libpurple-perl 2.6.6-10.el4
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:1820
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 6) finch 2.7.9-3.el6.2, pidgin 2.7.9-3.el6.2, libpurple 2.7.9-3.el6.2, pidgin-perl 2.7.9-3.el6.2, libpurple-tcl 2.7.9-3.el6.2, libpurple-perl 2.7.9-3.el6.2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) finch 2.7.9-3.el6.2, pidgin 2.7.9-3.el6.2, libpurple 2.7.9-3.el6.2, pidgin-perl 2.7.9-3.el6.2, libpurple-tcl 2.7.9-3.el6.2, libpurple-perl 2.7.9-3.el6.2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 6) finch 2.7.9-3.el6.2, pidgin 2.7.9-3.el6.2, libpurple 2.7.9-3.el6.2, pidgin-perl 2.7.9-3.el6.2, libpurple-tcl 2.7.9-3.el6.2, libpurple-perl 2.7.9-3.el6.2
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:1821
Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 4 finch 2.6.6-10.el4, pidgin 2.6.6-10.el4, libpurple 2.6.6-10.el4, pidgin-perl 2.6.6-10.el4, libpurple-tcl 2.6.6-10.el4, libpurple-perl 2.6.6-10.el4 Red Hat RHEL Desktop Workstation (v. 5 client) finch 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4, pidgin 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4, libpurple 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4, pidgin-perl 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4, libpurple-tcl 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4, libpurple-perl 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4 Red Hat RHEL Optional Productivity Applications (v. 5 server) finch 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4, pidgin 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4, libpurple 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4, pidgin-perl 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4, libpurple-tcl 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4, libpurple-perl 2.6.6-5.el5_7.4
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:1820

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

4.53% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 91% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
NVD	2.0	5.0	AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

Classification

Weakness

CWE-20 Improper Input Validation

References

redhat.com /support/errata/RHSA-2011-1820.html
vendor-advisory
hermes.opensuse.org /messages/13195955
vendor-advisory
mandriva.com /security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2011:183
vendor-advisory
redhat.com /support/errata/RHSA-2011-1821.html
vendor-advisory
pidgin.im /news/security/?id=57
vendor-advisory
developer.pidgin.im /viewmtn/revision/info/757272a78a8ca6027d518e614712c3399e34dda3
secunia.com /advisories/47219
third-party-advisory
openwall.com /lists/oss-security/2011/12/10/2
mailing-list
openwall.com /lists/oss-security/2011/12/10/1
mailing-list
developer.pidgin.im /viewmtn/revision/diff/bc79b1bf09dcfa1d8edac86a06761fce7416e69c/with/757272a78a8ca6027d518e614712c3399e34dda3/
oval.cisecurity.org /repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A18408
vdb-entry, signature
secunia.com /advisories/47234
third-party-advisory
securityfocus.com /bid/51010
vdb-entry

Sources

CVE List CVE-2011-4601
NVD CVE-2011-4601

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary