libsixel is a SIXEL encoder/decoder implementation derived from kmiya's sixel. Versions 1.8.7 and prior contain an integer overflow which leads to a heap buffer overflow via sixel_frame_convert_to_rgb888() in frame.c, where allocation size and pointer offset computations for palettised images (PAL1, PAL2, PAL4) are performed using int arithmetic before casting to size_t. For images whose pixel count exceeds INT_MAX / 4, the overflow produces an undersized heap allocation for the conversion buffer and a negative pointer offset for the normalization sub-buffer, after which sixel_helper_normalize_pixelformat() writes the full image data starting from the invalid pointer, causing massive heap corruption confirmed by ASAN. An attacker providing a specially crafted large palettised PNG can corrupt the heap of the victim process, resulting in a reliable crash and potential arbitrary code execution. This issue has been fixed in version 1.8.7-r1.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-33020 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.01%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: 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.
| EDB-ID | Source | Kind | Published | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | nvd_ref | exploit_tag | Exploit-DB ↗ |
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 | 2026-04-15 | — | 0.01% | — |
Full EPSS history (1 record total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.1 | 3.1 | HIGH |
|
1.8 | 5.2 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
not yet assigned | CVE-2026-33020 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libsixel), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): open 3, resolved 2. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-33020 |
redhat
|
medium | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-33020 |
suse
|
high | — | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-33020/ |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2026-33020 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libsixel), 7 status rows across 7 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, upstream, xenial): needs-triage 7. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-33020 |
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| https://github.com/saitoha/libsixel/releases/tag/v1.8.7-r1 | Release Notes |
| https://github.com/saitoha/libsixel/security/advisories/GHSA-2xgm-4x47-2x2p | Exploit Vendor Advisory |