GHSA-H64W-W9PR-82M4

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-05-29 17:58 – Updated: 2026-05-29 17:58
VLAI
Summary
ExifReader is vulnerable to denial of service via crafted ICC `mluc` tag
Details

Impact

When parsing an image with an embedded ICC profile that contains a crafted multiLocalizedUnicodeType (mluc) tag, ExifReader can be made to allocate memory proportional to attacker-controlled fields in the tag rather than to the actual size of the input. Processing such an image causes excessive memory consumption and can terminate the host process (out-of-memory).

Any application that calls ExifReader.load() on untrusted images, for example, user uploads in a web service, is affected. ICC profiles are carried in JPEG, TIFF, PNG, HEIC, AVIF, JPEG XL, and WebP, so the issue is reachable from any of those formats.

Patches

Fixed in exifreader@4.39.0. Upgrade with:

npm install exifreader@latest

Bower users consume the bundled dist/ files from this repository, and the same fix is committed there.

Workarounds

If upgrading is not immediately possible, configure a custom build that excludes the icc module so that ICC parsing (and therefore this code path) is skipped entirely.

Resources

  • Reporter's writeup: https://gist.github.com/yuki-matsuhashi/3243ea38e5fbf8cfe19b624f04c9f4b4
  • Patch: https://github.com/mattiasw/ExifReader/commit/c9d88b67e127b2dcc7b46e328df468257fb2dc30
Severity
7.5 (High)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
7.7 (High)
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P
Show details on source website
To clipboard 

{
  "affected": [
    {
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "npm",
        "name": "exifreader"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "2.10.0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "4.39.0"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2026-8813"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-1284"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": true,
    "github_reviewed_at": "2026-05-29T17:58:37Z",
    "nvd_published_at": "2026-05-19T07:16:30Z",
    "severity": "HIGH"
  },
  "details": "### Impact\n\nWhen parsing an image with an embedded ICC profile that contains a crafted `multiLocalizedUnicodeType` (`mluc`) tag, ExifReader can be made to allocate memory proportional to attacker-controlled fields in the tag rather than to\nthe actual size of the input. Processing such an image causes excessive memory consumption and can terminate the host process (out-of-memory).\n\nAny application that calls `ExifReader.load()` on untrusted images, for example, user uploads in a web service, is affected. ICC profiles are carried in JPEG, TIFF, PNG, HEIC, AVIF, JPEG XL, and WebP, so the issue is reachable from any of those formats.\n\n### Patches\n\nFixed in `exifreader@4.39.0`. Upgrade with:\n\n    npm install exifreader@latest\n\nBower users consume the bundled `dist/` files from this repository, and the same fix is committed there.\n\n### Workarounds\n\nIf upgrading is not immediately possible, configure a [custom build](https://github.com/mattiasw/ExifReader#configure-a-custom-build) that excludes the `icc` module so that ICC parsing (and therefore this code path) is skipped entirely.\n\n### Resources\n\n- Reporter\u0027s writeup: https://gist.github.com/yuki-matsuhashi/3243ea38e5fbf8cfe19b624f04c9f4b4\n- Patch: https://github.com/mattiasw/ExifReader/commit/c9d88b67e127b2dcc7b46e328df468257fb2dc30",
  "id": "GHSA-h64w-w9pr-82m4",
  "modified": "2026-05-29T17:58:37Z",
  "published": "2026-05-29T17:58:37Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/mattiasw/ExifReader/security/advisories/GHSA-h64w-w9pr-82m4"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-8813"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/mattiasw/ExifReader/commit/c9d88b67e127b2dcc7b46e328df468257fb2dc30"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://gist.github.com/yuki-matsuhashi/3243ea38e5fbf8cfe19b624f04c9f4b4"
    },
    {
      "type": "PACKAGE",
      "url": "https://github.com/mattiasw/ExifReader"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://security.snyk.io/vuln/SNYK-JS-EXIFREADER-16689335"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    },
    {
      "score": "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P",
      "type": "CVSS_V4"
    }
  ],
  "summary": "ExifReader is vulnerable to denial of service via crafted ICC `mluc` tag"
}


Log in or create an account to share your comment.




Tags
Taxonomy of the tags.





Forecast uses a logistic model when the trend is rising, or an exponential decay model when the trend is falling. Fitted via linearized least squares.

Sightings

Author Source Type Date Other

Nomenclature

  • Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
  • Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
  • Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
  • Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
  • Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.


Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.