Low

Exiv2 Segmentation Faults in Exiv2::EpsImage::writeMetadata() via crafted EPS file

Disclosed: 29.08.2025
Updated: 11.10.2026 13:19

Impact

An out-of-bounds read was found in Exiv2 versions v0.28.5 and earlier. Exiv2 is a command-line utility and C++ library for reading, writing, deleting, and modifying the metadata of image files. The out-of-bounds read is triggered when Exiv2 is used to write metadata into a crafted image file. An attacker could potentially exploit the vulnerability to cause a denial of service by crashing Exiv2, if they can trick the victim into running Exiv2 on a crafted image file.

Note that this bug is only triggered when writing the metadata, which is a less frequently used Exiv2 operation than reading the metadata. For example, to trigger the bug in the Exiv2 command-line application, you need to add an extra command-line argument such as delete.

Patches

The bug is fixed in version v0.28.6.

Credit

Thank you to @dragonArthurX for reporting this issue.

Details (from original report by @dragonArthurX )

Version: Tested on v0.28.5 (latest official release) Commit: 907169fa643c2c74c14fd4106e55eaeee3634d9f

Platform: Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS (x86_64)

Build Steps:

bash

git clone https://github.com/Exiv2/exiv2.git
cd exiv2
git checkout v0.28.5
mkdir build-v0.28.5 && cd build-v0.28.5
cmake -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=/fuzzer/afl-clang-fast -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=/fuzzer/afl-clang-fast++ -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS="-g -fsanitize=address" -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="-g -fsanitize=address" -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF ../

Command line to reproduce:

bash

/home/exiv2/build/bin/exiv2 -d a -f /home/poc

Crash Output:

AddressSanitizer:DEADLYSIGNAL
 ================================================================ = 
==376531==ERROR: AddressSanitizer: SEGV on unknown address 0x7fd92236b0e7 (pc 0x7fd82314dcd2 bp 0x7ffd540ceba0 sp 0x7ffd540ce358 T0)
==376531==The signal is caused by a READ memory access.
    #0 0x7fd82314dcd2  /build/glibc-B3wQXB/glibc-2.31/string/../sysdeps/x86_64/multiarch/memmove-vec-unaligned-erms.S:383
    #1 0x4ed131 in __asan_memcpy (/home/exiv2/build-v0.28.5/bin/exiv2+0x4ed131)
    #2 0x6184b1 in Exiv2::MemIo::write(unsigned char const*, unsigned long) /home/exiv2/src/basicio.cpp:704:5
    #3 0xad336d in (anonymous namespace)::writeTemp(Exiv2::BasicIo&, unsigned char const*, unsigned long) /home/exiv2/src/epsimage.cpp:90:14
    #4 0xac3a07 in (anonymous namespace)::readWriteEpsMetadata(Exiv2::BasicIo&, std::__cxx11::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >&, std::vector<Exiv2::NativePreview, std::allocator<Exiv2::NativePreview> >&, bool) /home/exiv2/src/epsimage.cpp:1009:7
    #5 0xad1175 in Exiv2::EpsImage::writeMetadata() /home/exiv2/src/epsimage.cpp:1103:3
    #6 0x5d2383 in Action::Erase::run(std::__cxx11::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> > const&) /home/exiv2/app/actions.cpp:713:14
    #7 0x522d02 in main /home/exiv2/app/exiv2.cpp:177:25
    #8 0x7fd8230b6082 in __libc_start_main /build/glibc-B3wQXB/glibc-2.31/csu/../csu/libc-start.c:308:16
    #9 0x4714dd in _start (/home/exiv2/build-v0.28.5/bin/exiv2+0x4714dd)

AddressSanitizer can not provide additional info.
SUMMARY: AddressSanitizer: SEGV /build/glibc-B3wQXB/glibc-2.31/string/../sysdeps/x86_64/multiarch/memmove-vec-unaligned-erms.S:383 
==376531==ABORTING

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

Platform	Package	Vulnerable versions	Fixed in
Python (PyPI)	exiv2	<= 0.17.3	no fix

References

CVSS score -

CVSS vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Weakness (CWE): CWE-125
Platform: Python (PyPI)
Package: exiv2
Disclosed: 29.08.2025
Updated: 11.10.2026 13:19

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - PYSEC-2026-1354 - PyPA Advisory Database; CC BY 4.0

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-496f-x7cq-cq39 - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: exiv2

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Python (PyPI)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

All (15) in the archive

Total entries: 15
First → latest: 05.2017 08.2025
Without a fix: 12
Exploited in attacks: 0

Severity breakdown

High 3
Medium 10
Low 2

Disclosures per year

2017: 1
2018: 4
2019: 1
2020: 0
2021: 2
2022: 0
2023: 2
2024: 2
2025: 3
2026: 0

29.08.2025

Exiv2 Segmentation Faults in Exiv2::EpsImage::writeMetadata() via crafted EPS file this entry

Low CVE-2025-54080 <= 0.17.3 no fix
06.11.2023

Exiv2 is a C++ library and a command-line utility to read, write, delete and modify Exif, IPTC, XMP and ICC image metadata. An out-of-bounds write was found in Exiv2 version v0.28.0. The vulnerable fu

High · 8.8 CVE-2023-44398 all versions no fix
22.08.2023

Buffer Overflow vulnerability in tEXtToDataBuf function in pngimage.cpp in Exiv2 0.27.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service and other unspecified impacts via use of crafted file.

High · 7.8 CVE-2020-18831 all versions no fix
26.07.2021

An integer overflow in CrwMap::encode0x1810 of Exiv2 0.27.3 allows attackers to trigger a heap-based buffer overflow and cause a denial of service (DOS) via crafted metadata.

High · 7.5 CVE-2021-31292 all versions no fix

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