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Public proof of conceptFix available

CVE-2026-26981

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

  • Published2026-02-24
  • Fixed in3.4.5 · 3.3.7
  • WeaknessCWE-195

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

OpenEXR provides the specification and reference implementation of the EXR file format, an image storage format for the motion picture industry. In versions 3.3.0 through 3.3.6 and 3.4.0 through 3.4.4, a heap-buffer-overflow (OOB read) occurs in the `istream_nonparallel_read` function in `ImfContextInit.cpp` when parsing a malformed EXR file through a memory-mapped `IStream`. A signed integer subtraction produces a negative value that is implicitly converted to `size_t`, resulting in a massive length being passed to `memcpy`. Versions 3.3.7 and 3.4.5 contain a patch.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2026-02-2403:16CVE publishedNVD

Versions per branch

NVD · OSV
Openexr
BranchAffectedFixed in
3.4≥ 3.4.0, < 3.4.53.4.5
3.3≥ 3.3.0, < 3.3.73.3.7

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

Products declared by the CNA1 product

As GitHub_M, the CNA that assigned this CVE, declared them in the CVE record; versions as written.

  • AcademySoftwareFoundation openexr
    Affected
    • = >= 3.3.0, < 3.3.7no fix stated
    • = >= 3.4.0, < 3.4.5no fix stated

Source: the CNA record (CVE Program), © The MITRE Corporation,CVE Terms of UseCVE recordupdated 2026-02-24

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

  • openexrWolfiall versions · fixed in 3.4.5-r0and 7 other packages
  • openexropenSUSE:Tumbleweedall versions · fixed in 3.4.5-1.1
  • openexrChainguardall versions · fixed in 3.4.5-r0and 7 other packages

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2026-26981 Red Hat Product Security

    openexr: OpenEXR: Denial of Service via heap-buffer-overflow when parsing a malformed EXR file

Full record on NVD

Fix

  1. Update Openexr to 3.4.5 · 3.3.7

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

  • NVDCVE recordread 2026-10-23
  • CISA-ADPSSVC decisionpoc2026-02-24
  • CNACVSS 3.16.5known since 2026-10-23
  • CNAweakness (CWE)CWE-195known since 2026-10-23
  • FIRST EPSSEPSS score0.6 %2026-11-09
  • OSVaffected packages—
  • GitHub AdvisoriesadvisoryMODERATE2026-04-06

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Published
2026-02-24
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Analyzed
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-q6vj-wxvf-5m8c

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-26981?

OpenEXR provides the specification and reference implementation of the EXR file format, an image storage format for the motion picture industry. In versions 3.3.0 through 3.3.6 and 3.4.0 through 3.4.4, a heap-buffer-overflow (OOB read) occurs in the `istream_nonparallel_read` function in `ImfContextInit.cpp` when parsing a malformed EXR file through a memory-mapped `IStream`. A signed integer subtraction produces a negative value that is implicitly converted to `size_t`, resulting in a massive length being passed to `memcpy`. Versions 3.3.7 and 3.4.5 contain a patch.

Is CVE-2026-26981 actively exploited?

A proof-of-concept exploit exists for CVE-2026-26981, but active exploitation has not been confirmed at this time.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-26981?

CVE-2026-26981 has a CVSS v3 base score of 6.5 (MEDIUM severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

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