Vulnerability · Published Apr 9, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M
CVE-2026-34757LIBPNG has a yse-after-free in png_set_PLTE, png_set_tRNS and png_set_hIST leading to corrupted chunk data and potential heap information disclosure
Medium 5.1
In plain English
A medium-severity use-after-free in libpng from pnggroup. Proof-of-concept exploit code is public. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 10% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
LIBPNG is a reference library for use in applications that read, create, and manipulate PNG (Portable Network Graphics) raster image files. From 1.0.9 to before 1.6.57, passing a pointer obtained from png_get_PLTE, png_get_tRNS, or png_get_hIST back into the corresponding setter on the same png_struct/png_info pair causes the setter to read from freed memory and copy its contents into the replacement buffer. The setter frees the internal buffer before copying from the caller-supplied pointer, which now dangles. The freed region may contain stale data (producing silently corrupted chunk metadata) or data from subsequent heap allocations (leaking unrelated heap contents into the chunk struct). This vulnerability is fixed in 1.6.57.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine:v3.20 | libpng | 1.6.57-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-34757 |
| Alpine:v3.21 | libpng | 1.6.57-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-34757 |
| Alpine:v3.22 | libpng | 1.6.57-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-34757 |
| Alpine:v3.23 | libpng | 1.6.57-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-34757 |
| Alpine:v3.24 | libpng | 1.6.57-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-34757 |
| Debian:12 | libpng1.6 | 1.6.39-2+deb12u5 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-34757 |
| Debian:13 | libpng1.6 | 1.6.48-1+deb13u5 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-34757 |
| Debian:14 | libpng1.6 | 1.6.57-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-34757 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | libpng1.6 | 1.6.37-3ubuntu0.5 | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-34757 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | libpng1.6 | 1.6.43-5ubuntu0.6 | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-34757 |
| Ubuntu:25.10 | libpng1.6 | 1.6.50-1ubuntu0.5 | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-34757 |
Affected products (as reported)
Weakness: CWE-416 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
References
- https://github.com/pnggroup/libpng/security/advisories/GHSA-6fr7-g8h7-v645 x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/pnggroup/libpng/issues/836 x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/pnggroup/libpng/issues/837 x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/pnggroup/libpng/commit/398cbe3df03f4e11bb031e07f416dfdde3684e8a x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/pnggroup/libpng/commit/55d20aaa322c9274491cda82c5cd4f99b48c6bcc x_refsource_MISC
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2026/05/msg00017.html