CVE-2026-42146 | CImg Library: Uncontrolled memory allocation via nb_colors field in _load_bmp

CImg Library is a C++ library for image processing. Prior to commit c3aacf5, the nb_colors field read from the BMP file header is used directly to compute an allocation size without validating it against the remaining file size. A crafted BMP file with a large nb_colors value triggers an out-of-memory condition, crashing any application that uses CImg to load untrusted BMP files. This issue has been patched via commit c3aacf5.

Published: 2026-05-04 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Deferred，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2026-42146 is rated Low Risk (22.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.12%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2026-42146

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 0.01% 0.12% +0.11%
2 2026-05-05 — 0.01% —

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-42146

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]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-42146

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-42146

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2026-42146 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (cimg), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 3, open 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-42146
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-42146 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (cimg), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, resolute, upstream, xenial): needs-triage 8. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-42146

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-42146

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2026-42146

cvelogic Threat Intelligence