CVE-2026-41069 | libheif allows Out-of-bounds vector access leading to invalid dereference (DoS)

Exp

libheif is a HEIF and AVIF file format decoder and encoder. In versions 1.21.2 and prior, a malformed HEIF sequence file can trigger an out-of-bounds read in core sequence parsing logic, causing DoS. A malformed file can have stco.entry_count == 0 (creating no chunks) while still passing validation because saio.entry_count == 0 matches, but with saiz.sample_count > 0 the SampleAuxInfoReader constructor still enters its loop. This leads to an out-of-bounds dereference on the empty chunks[0] in chunked mode.

Published: 2026-05-22 Last update: 2026-05-27 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-41069 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.04%). 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.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2026-41069

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-41069

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 0.04%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-41069

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/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: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.
2.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-41069

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-41069

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2026-41069 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libheif), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): open 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-41069
suse medium CVE-2026-41069 severity moderate: SUSE including 11 source package names (gdk-pixbuf-loader-libheif, libheif, …), 48 product×package rows across 14 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS, … (14 product lines)): Known Not Affected 48. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-41069/
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-41069 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libheif), 7 status rows across 7 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, resolute, upstream): needs-triage 7. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-41069

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-41069

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
struktur libheif < 1.22.0 cpe:2.3:a:struktur:libheif:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-41069

cvelogic Threat Intelligence