Vulnerability · Published Oct 30, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M
CVE-2026-61627libass: Out-of-bounds read and write in wrap_lines_measure
High 7.3
In plain English
A high-severity out-of-bounds read in libass from libass. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 5% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
libass is a portable subtitle renderer for the `ASS`/SSA (Advanced Substation Alpha/Substation Alpha) subtitle format. Prior to 0.17.5, libass can overread and overwrite the glyph array in `wrap_lines_measure` while rendering malicious `ASS` content. In `wrap modes other than two`, a final line ending with a literal backslash-n sequence and otherwise consisting only of such sequences or spaces can remain after early trimming and make the line-measurement loops overshoot by one glyph. When the total text size exactly matches the allocated glyph-array capacity, the first loop reads an uninitialized 32-bit fixed-point `pos.x` value, although that value is not subsequently used. The second loop writes `pos.x` and `pos.y` beyond the array, zeroing the first and adding an attacker-controllable offset to the second. No actual exploitation beyond possible denial of service is known; broader exploitation is theoretical and constrained by the addresses, limited writes, and ASLR. This issue is fixed in version 0.17.5.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian:12 | libass | 1:0.17.1-1+deb12u1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-61627 |
| Debian:13 | libass | 1:0.17.3-1+deb13u1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-61627 |
| Debian:14 | libass | 1:0.17.5-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-61627 |
Affected products (as reported)
Weakness: CWE-125, CWE-787 · Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
References
- https://github.com/libass/libass/security/advisories/GHSA-pjjp-65r7-ppgm x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/libass/libass/commit/f2ef59755292bc4bb950ef22710e18a5487c399d x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/libass/libass/releases/tag/0.17.5 x_refsource_MISC
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2026/09/msg00004.html