Vulnerability · Published Feb 18, 2025 · Assigned by GitHub_M

CVE-2025-26623Use After Free in Exiv2

Medium 5.3

In plain English

A medium-severity use-after-free in exiv2 from Exiv2. Proof-of-concept exploit code is public. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.9% (higher than 60% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 4.0)5.3Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.9%top 39.7% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: poc
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

Exiv2 is a C++ library and a command-line utility to read, write, delete and modify Exif, IPTC, XMP and ICC image metadata. A heap buffer overflow was found in Exiv2 versions v0.28.0 to v0.28.4. Versions prior to v0.28.0, such as v0.27.7, are **not** affected. Exiv2 is a command-line utility and C++ library for reading, writing, deleting, and modifying the metadata of image files. The heap overflow is triggered when Exiv2 is used to write metadata into a crafted image file. An attacker could potentially exploit the vulnerability to gain code execution, if they can trick the victim into running Exiv2 on a crafted image file. Note that this bug is only triggered when writing the metadata, which is a less frequently used Exiv2 operation than reading the metadata. For example, to trigger the bug in the Exiv2 command-line application, you need to add an extra command-line argument such as `fixiso`. The bug is fixed in version v0.28.5. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
AlmaLinux:10exiv20.28.3-3.el10_0.2ALSA-2025:7457
AlmaLinux:10exiv2-devel0.28.3-3.el10_0.2ALSA-2025:7457
AlmaLinux:10exiv2-doc0.28.3-3.el10_0.2ALSA-2025:7457
AlmaLinux:10exiv2-libs0.28.3-3.el10_0.2ALSA-2025:7457
Alpine:v3.22exiv20.28.5-r0ALPINE-CVE-2025-26623
Alpine:v3.23exiv20.28.5-r0ALPINE-CVE-2025-26623
Alpine:v3.24exiv20.28.5-r0ALPINE-CVE-2025-26623
Debian:13exiv20.28.4+dfsg-2DEBIAN-CVE-2025-26623
Debian:14exiv20.28.4+dfsg-2DEBIAN-CVE-2025-26623
PyPIexiv20.28.5GHSA-38h4-fx85-qcx7
PyPIexiv20.28.5PYSEC-2026-1353
Rocky Linux:10exiv20:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2RLSA-2025:7457

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Exiv2 exiv2 >= 0.28.0, < 0.28.5

Weakness: CWE-416 · Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

References