What is CVE-2011-0522?

CVE-2011-0522 is a vulnerability in Videolan Vlc Media Player, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. Published 2011-02-07.

Is CVE-2011-0522 known to be exploited?

8 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Buffer overflow in Videolan Vlc Media Player

CVE-2011-0522

The StripTags function in (1) the USF decoder (modules/codec/subtitles/subsdec.c) and (2) the Text decoder (modules/codec/subtitles/subsusf.c) in VideoLAN VLC Media Player 1.1 before 1.1.6-rc allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a subtitle with an opening "<" without a closing ">" in an MKV file, which triggers heap memory corruption, as demonstrated using refined-australia-blu720p-sample.mkv.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published 2011-02-07 · last modified 2026-06-16.

CVSS v2 metric

CVSS v2 base score 6.8 (Medium). Vector: AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P. This CVE predates CVSS v3 and has no v3 score from NVD.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.515 (98.9th percentile), scored 2026-10-18.

High probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — patch promptly. 99th percentile — 98.9% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.515 · newest: 0.515 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Videolan Vlc Media Player — versions 1.1.0, 1.1.1, 1.1.2

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-119 — Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

www.securityfocus.com/bid/46008 (Exploit, vdb-entry)
exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/65029 (vdb-entry)
oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval:org.mitre.oval:def:12414 (signature, vdb-entry)
securityreason.com/securityalert/8064 (third-party-advisory)
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2011/01/25/9 (mailing-list, Patch)
www.exploit-db.com/exploits/16108 (Exploit, exploit)
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2011/01/25/7 (mailing-list, Patch)
mailman.videolan.org/pipermail/vlc-devel/2011-January/078614.html (mailing-list)
www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2011/0225 (vdb-entry, Vendor Advisory)
git.videolan.org/gitweb.cgi

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2011-0522?: CVE-2011-0522 is a vulnerability in Videolan Vlc Media Player, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. Published 2011-02-07.
Is CVE-2011-0522 known to be exploited?: 8 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.