CVE-2020-29385

GNOME gdk-pixbuf (aka GdkPixbuf) before 2.42.2 allows a denial of service (infinite loop) in lzw.c in the function write_indexes. if c->self_code equals 10, self->code_table[10].extends will assign the value 11 to c. The next execution in the loop will assign self->code_table[11].extends to c, which will give the value of 10. This will make the loop run infinitely. This bug can, for example, be triggered by calling this function with a GIF image with LZW compression that is crafted in a special way.

Published: 2020-12-25 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-29385 is rated Moderate Risk (47.3/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.48%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-29385

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.86% 1.48% +0.62%
2 2026-06-07 0.35% 0.86% +0.51%
3 2026-06-06 — 0.35% —

Full EPSS history (21 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-29385

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 3.6 [email protected]
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-29385

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-29385

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2020-29385: 1 source package rows (gdk-pixbuf); 17 state rows across 10 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 9, open 8. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2020-29385
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-29385 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (gdk-pixbuf), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-29385
gentoo low CVE-2020-29385: 1 GLSA(s) (202012-15), 1 atom(s) (x11-libs/gdk-pixbuf); latest impact low. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2020-29385
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-29385
suse medium CVE-2020-29385 severity moderate: SUSE including 319 source package names (amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20210304-hvm-ssd-x86_64, amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20220127-hvm-ssd-x86_64, …), 534 product×package rows across 62 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, Image SLES15-SP3-EC2-HVM, … (62 product lines)): Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 169, Fixed 134. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-29385/
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-29385 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (gdk-pixbuf), 6 status rows across 6 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 2, released 2, DNE 1, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-29385

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-29385

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnome gdk-pixbuf > 2.39.2, < 2.42.2 cpe:2.3:a:gnome:gdk-pixbuf:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 20.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 20.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 33 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:33:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 34 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:34:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-29385

URL Tags
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=977166 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gdk-pixbuf/-/blob/master/NEWS Release Notes Vendor Advisory
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gdk-pixbuf/-/issues/164 Vendor Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/B5H3GNVWMZTYZR3JBYCK57PF7PFMQBNP/ Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/BGZVCTH5O7WBJLYXZ2UOKLYNIFPVR55D/ Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/EANWYODLOJDFLMBH6WEKJJMQ5PKLEWML/ Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202012-15 Third Party Advisory
https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-29385 Patch Third Party Advisory
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