CVE-2025-66293 | LIBPNG has an out-of-bounds read in png_image_read_composite

Exp

LIBPNG is a reference library for use in applications that read, create, and manipulate PNG (Portable Network Graphics) raster image files. Prior to 1.6.52, an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in libpng's simplified API allows reading up to 1012 bytes beyond the png_sRGB_base[512] array when processing valid palette PNG images with partial transparency and gamma correction. The PNG files that trigger this vulnerability are valid per the PNG specification; the bug is in libpng's internal state management. Upgrade to libpng 1.6.52 or later.

Published: 2025-12-03 Last update: 2025-12-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2025-66293 is rated Exploit Available (55/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.14%). 2 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2025-66293

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-66293

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 2026-05-23 0.15% 0.14% -0.02%
2 2026-05-22 0.06% 0.15% +0.09%
3 2025-12-18 — 0.06% —

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-66293

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.1 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
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.
 2.8 4.2 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-66293

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-66293

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2025-66293: 1 source package rows (libpng); 23 state rows across 6 repos (3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, 3.23-main, edge-main); fixed 5, open 18. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2025-66293
debian not yet assigned CVE-2025-66293 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libpng1.6), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-66293
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-66293
suse high CVE-2025-66293 severity important: SUSE including 290 source package names (2.0.4-5.8.229:libpng16-16-1.6.34-150000.3.12.1, 2.1.3-7.76:libpng16-16-1.6.43-slfo.1.1_2.1, …), 794 product×package rows across 317 product lines (Container private-registry/harbor-portal, Container suse/manager/5.0/x86_64/server, … (317 product lines)): Fixed 465, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 91, First Fixed 7. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-66293/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-66293 medium priority: Ubuntu including 5 source packages (chromium-browser, firefox, libpng, libpng1.6, thunderbird), 30 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 13, released 9, DNE 4, needs-triage 3, ignored 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-66293

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-66293

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
libpng libpng < 1.6.52 cpe:2.3:a:libpng:libpng:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-66293

cvelogic Threat Intelligence