CVE-2026-45696
MediumCVSS 6.5Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk18th percentile - higher than 18% of all known CVEs
Summary
In OpenEXR versions 3.4.0 through 3.4.11, the HTJ2K decoder function ht_undo_impl() is vulnerable to a heap-buffer-overflow READ. It fails to validate that the tile/line dimensions from the codestream match the EXR header, leading to out-of-bounds reads from the OpenJPH line buffer. A crafted EXR file can cause a deterministic crash (DoS) or leak adjacent heap data.
Risk Assessment
The organization faces denial-of-service (DoS) attacks and potential leakage of sensitive memory contents when users or automated systems process malicious EXR files. The vulnerability is reachable through standard scanline-decode entry points, making it especially dangerous for applications handling untrusted EXR files, such as thumbnailers and asset pipelines.
Recommendation
Immediately update OpenEXR to version 3.4.12 or later, which contains the fix. If updating is not possible, implement additional validation of EXR files before processing and restrict access to untrusted file sources.
Other vulnerabilities in OpenEXR
See all- CVE-2017-12596High
In OpenEXR 2.2.0, a crafted image causes a heap-based buffer over-read in the hufDecode function in IlmImf/ImfHuf.cpp during exrmaketiled execution; it may result in denial of service or possibly unspecified other impact.
- CVE-2017-9115High
In OpenEXR 2.2.0, an invalid write of size 2 in the = operator function in half.h could cause the application to crash or execute arbitrary code.
- CVE-2017-9113High
In OpenEXR 2.2.0, an invalid write of size 1 in the bufferedReadPixels function in ImfInputFile.cpp could cause the application to crash or execute arbitrary code.
- CVE-2017-9111High
In OpenEXR 2.2.0, an invalid write of size 8 in the storeSSE function in ImfOptimizedPixelReading.h could cause the application to crash or execute arbitrary code.
- CVE-2026-42217Critical
OpenEXR versions from 3.0.0 to before 3.2.9, 3.3.0 to before 3.3.11, and 3.4.0 to before 3.4.11 have an issue with the readVariableLengthInteger() function that decodes a variable-length integer from untrusted EXR input without bounding the shift count. After enough continuation bytes, the code executes a left shift by 70 on a 64-bit value, leading to undefined behavior.
- CVE-2026-42216Critical
In OpenEXR versions 3.0.0 to before 3.2.9, 3.3.0 to before 3.3.11, and 3.4.0 to before 3.4.11, a vulnerability exists in the IDManifest::init() function. When reconstructing strings from a prefix-compressed representation, the code reads bytes without verifying that the current string has at least two bytes, potentially causing an out-of-bounds read.
- CVE-2026-68515High
OpenEXR before versions 3.2.11, 3.3.13, and 3.4.14 contains a vulnerability in the exrmultiview utility that can write past a heap allocation when combining two attacker-supplied, individually valid scanline EXR files whose union dataWindow is not aligned to one view's channel subsampling. This leads to a heap out-of-bounds write.
- CVE-2026-68514Medium
PyOpenEXR versions 3.3.0-3.3.12 and 3.4.0-3.4.13 have a heap out-of-bounds write vulnerability when reading a crafted deep scanline EXR file. A specially crafted file with a 'left' channel and layer-prefixed RGB channels can cause a buffer overflow and crash.
- CVE-2026-68513High
OpenEXR versions 3.3.0 through 3.3.12 and 3.4.0 through 3.4.13 contain a heap buffer overflow in PyOpenEXR triggered by a channel-name key collision between literal and prefixed RGB channels. A crafted EXR file can cause an out-of-bounds write in a NumPy array during pixel decoding.
- CVE-2026-59981High
OpenEXR versions through 3.2.10, 3.3.0 through 3.3.12, and 3.4.0 through 3.4.13 contain a vulnerability in the OpenEXRUtil library that returns an out-of-bounds pointer from the SampleCountChannel::row() API for deep images with a non-zero dataWindow origin. This can lead to an out-of-bounds read, potentially causing a process crash or disclosure of memory data.
Original NVD description (English source)
OpenEXR is the reference implementation and specification for the EXR image format, widely used in the motion picture industry. In versions 3.4.0 through 3.4.11, the HTJ2K (High-Throughput JPEG 2000) decoder, ht_undo_impl() in OpenEXRCore is vulnerable to a heap-buffer-overflow READ. The ht_undo_imp function copies decoded pixels out of a per-line OpenJPH buffer using the EXR channel's declared width as the iteration count. The codestream embedded in the EXR chunk can declare different (smaller) tile/line dimensions than the EXR header advertises, but ht_undo_impl() does not validate this — it pulls width 32-bit samples from cur_line->i32[] without checking the OpenJPH line buffer's actual length. A crafted EXR file produces a 4-byte heap-buffer-overflow READ immediately after a buffer allocated by ojph::local::codestream::finalize_alloc(). The bug is reachable through the standard scanline-decode entry point used by every consumer of exr_decoding_run/Imf::checkOpenEXRFile, including thumbnailers, asset pipelines, and the exrcheck utility — i.e. any application that opens untrusted EXR files. The result is a deterministic crash (DoS) and potential adjacent-heap leak. This issue has been fixed in version 3.4.12.