Vulnerability · Published Jun 19, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M
CVE-2026-49337libde265 has an unbounded memory leak via orphaned slice headers in `read_slice_NAL`
Medium 4.3
In plain English
A medium-severity resource allocation without limits in libde265 from strukturag. Proof-of-concept exploit code is public. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 15% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
libde265 is an open source implementation of the h.265 video codec. Prior to version 1.0.20, a crafted sequence of H.265 NAL units causes `decoder_context::read_slice_NAL()` (`libde265/decctx.cc:481`) to attach slice headers to a finished picture object that has no active image unit, resulting in attacker-controlled unbounded heap growth. The retained headers are never freed until the picture is released, which may not happen during continuous streaming. Version 1.0.20 patches the issue.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine:v3.24 | libde265 | 1.1.3-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-49337 |
| Debian:12 | libde265 | 1.0.11-1+deb12u3 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-49337 |
| Debian:13 | libde265 | 1.0.15-1+deb13u1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-49337 |
| Debian:14 | libde265 | 1.1.1-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-49337 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | libde265 | 1.0.15-1ubuntu0.1 | USN-8573-1 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | libde265 | 1.0.15-1ubuntu0.1 | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-49337 |
| Ubuntu:25.10 | libde265 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-49337 |
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| strukturag | libde265 | < 1.0.20 |
Weakness: CWE-770 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L