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Public proof of conceptFix available

CVE-2020-26208

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

  • Published2022-02-02
  • Fixed in3.04
  • WeaknessCWE-787

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

JHEAD is a simple command line tool for displaying and some manipulation of EXIF header data embedded in Jpeg images from digital cameras. In affected versions there is a heap-buffer-overflow on jhead-3.04/jpgfile.c:285 ReadJpegSections. Crafted jpeg images can be provided to the user resulting in a program crash or potentially incorrect exif information retrieval. Users are advised to upgrade. There is no known workaround for this issue.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2022-02-0212:15CVE publishedNVD

Versions per branch

NVD
Jhead project jhead
BranchAffectedFixed in
3.4< 3.043.04

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Distribution builds and vendor advisories

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Packages

  • jheadUbuntu:Pro:16.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 1:3.00-4+deb9u1ubuntu0.1~esm1
  • jheadUbuntu:Pro:14.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 1:2.97-1+deb8u2ubuntu0.1~esm1
  • jheadUbuntu:20.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 1:3.04-1ubuntu0.1
  • jheadUbuntu:18.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 1:3.00-8~ubuntu0.1
  • jheadDebian:14all versions · fixed in 1:3.04-6
  • jheadDebian:13all versions · fixed in 1:3.04-6
  • jheadDebian:12all versions · fixed in 1:3.04-6

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2020-26208 Red Hat Product Security

    jhead: heap-buffer-overflow in ReadJpegSections

Full record on NVD

Fix

  1. Update Jhead project jhead to 3.04

Advisories and patches

Detection

Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof of concept
Metasploit modules
none listed
Metasploit Framework

Sources

  • CISA-ADPSSVC decisionpoc2025-04-25
  • CNACVSS 3.15.3known since 2026-10-23
  • NVDCVSS 3.16.1read 2026-10-23
  • NVDCVSS 2.05.8read 2026-10-23
  • CISA-ADPweakness (CWE)CWE-7872025-05-05
  • NVDweakness (CWE)CWE-787read 2026-10-23
  • FIRST EPSSEPSS score0.9 %2026-11-08
  • OSVaffected packages—

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H
Published
2022-02-02
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Modified

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-26208?

JHEAD is a simple command line tool for displaying and some manipulation of EXIF header data embedded in Jpeg images from digital cameras. In affected versions there is a heap-buffer-overflow on jhead-3.04/jpgfile.c:285 ReadJpegSections. Crafted jpeg images can be provided to the user resulting in a program crash or potentially incorrect exif information retrieval. Users are advised to upgrade. There is no known workaround for this issue.

Is CVE-2020-26208 actively exploited?

A proof-of-concept exploit exists for CVE-2020-26208, but active exploitation has not been confirmed at this time.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2020-26208?

CVE-2020-26208 has a CVSS v3 base score of 6.1 (MEDIUM severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H.

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Sources for this record