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HIGH

CVE-2021-29457

CVSS v3

7.8

HIGH

EPSS Score

2.2 %

exploit probability, as of 2026-10-19

CISA KEV

No

known exploited

Exploitation

—

SSVC status

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Affected and fixed versions

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

  • exiv2AlmaLinux:8all versions · fixed in 0.27.4-5.el8and 3 other packages

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2021-29457 Red Hat Product Security46 products fixed · 8 known affected

    exiv2: Heap-based buffer overflow in Exiv2::Jp2Image::doWriteMetadata

    exiv2-devel as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 · exiv2-libs as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 · exiv2.src as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

  • RHSA-2021:4173 Red Hat Product Security46 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: exiv2 security, bug fix, and enhancement update

Full record on NVD

Description

Exiv2 is a command-line utility and C++ library for reading, writing, deleting, and modifying the metadata of image files. A heap buffer overflow was found in Exiv2 versions v0.27.3 and earlier. The heap overflow is triggered when Exiv2 is used to write metadata into a crafted image file. An attacker could potentially exploit the vulnerability to gain code execution, 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 `insert`. The bug is fixed in version v0.27.4.

Technical details

Published
2021-04-19

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-29457?

Exiv2 is a command-line utility and C++ library for reading, writing, deleting, and modifying the metadata of image files. A heap buffer overflow was found in Exiv2 versions v0.27.3 and earlier. The heap overflow is triggered when Exiv2 is used to write metadata into a crafted image file. An attacker could potentially exploit the vulnerability to gain code execution, 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 `insert`. The bug is fixed in version v0.27.4.

Is CVE-2021-29457 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2021-29457 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 2.2% on 2026-10-19, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2021-29457?

CVE-2021-29457 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (HIGH severity).

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