Vulnerability · Published Sep 17, 2026 · Assigned by CPANSec
CVE-2026-73638Imager versions from 0.45_02 before 1.035 for Perl read outside the EXIF block via unchecked start offsets in tiff_load_ifd
Medium 6.2
In plain English
A medium-severity out-of-bounds read in Imager. 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 8% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
Imager versions from 0.45_02 before 1.035 for Perl read outside the EXIF block via unchecked start offsets in tiff_load_ifd. tiff_load_ifd() validates an IFD entry's data by checking that `entry->offset + entry->size` stays within the EXIF block, and never checks the start offset itself. Where that sum is not the real end of the data, the check passes with the entry starting outside the block. Through 1.032 `entry->offset` is a plain int, so on the usual two's-complement implementations an offset with the high bit set converts to negative and the sum can land back inside the block. From 1.033 the field is a size_t and the addition wraps only where size_t is 32 bits. The IFD's own start offset is checked the same way and wraps where unsigned long is 32 bits, which includes 64-bit Windows. Any caller of Imager->read() on an attacker-supplied image may receive EXIF tags holding bytes from outside the block, or crash the process.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian:12 | libimager-perl | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-73638 |
| Debian:13 | libimager-perl | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-73638 |
| Debian:14 | libimager-perl | 1.035+dfsg-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-73638 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | libimager-perl | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-73638 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | libimager-perl | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-73638 |
| Ubuntu:26.04:LTS | libimager-perl | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-73638 |
| Ubuntu:26.10 | libimager-perl | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-73638 |
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Imager | 0.45_02 – before 1.035 |
Weakness: CWE-125 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
References
- https://github.com/tonycoz/imager/security/advisories/GHSA-j47j-8w8p-3mmc vendor-advisory
- https://github.com/tonycoz/imager/commit/48ba8ac0749f89466b6e6681fb88cbdb51086ebd.patch patch
- https://github.com/tonycoz/imager/commit/6f1fd003a8e48c7e6e58b7019a04cc71bbfec2c3.patch patch
- https://github.com/tonycoz/imager/issues/568 issue-tracking
- https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1144226 issue-tracking
- https://metacpan.org/release/TONYC/Imager-1.035/changes release-notes
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/09/17/5