CVE-2023-26590

What it actually does

Floating point exception in lsx_aiffstartwrite at aiff.c:622 triggers a crash when processing certain AIFF inputs, resulting in denial of service.

Why it matters to the business

Audio conversion or processing pipelines that rely on sox can be disrupted by malformed AIFF files, causing unexpected downtime in media workflows; the issue affects widely used distributions including Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux with no listed fixed versions available.

How an attack unfolds

An attacker crafts a malicious AIFF file that reaches the vulnerable floating-point operation inside lsx_aiffstartwrite; when sox is invoked on the file the exception occurs and the process terminates.

How to fix it

Upgrade sox to a patched release that resolves the floating-point exception; if no fixed package is yet available, replace sox with an alternative audio tool or restrict processing to trusted AIFF sources only.

How to confirm the fix worked

Test sox against both the original crashing AIFF sample and a set of known-good AIFF files after applying any update; confirm the process no longer terminates with a floating-point exception.

Typical attack path

1. Create or obtain a specially malformed AIFF audio file
2. Supply the file to sox via command line or automated workflow
3. Trigger the lsx_aiffstartwrite function path that performs the invalid floating-point operation
4. Cause the sox process to crash and produce a denial of service

How to detect it

Review system logs and application crash reports for sox processes that terminate with floating-point exceptions while handling AIFF files; correlate timestamps with file-processing jobs.

What your security team should do

• Inventory all systems running sox and prioritize patching where possible
• Add sox crash monitoring to existing audio-processing job alerts
• Block untrusted AIFF files from automated sox pipelines until a fix is deployed