GHSA-496f-x7cq-cq39 CVE-2025-54080 PYSEC-2026-1354

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

Medium PyPI

Severity: 0.0 / 10; Medium · CVSS 4.0
Exploit chance (EPSS): 0.14%; Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 3.59% of scored vulnerabilities.
Known exploited: No; Not in CISA's catalog
Weakness: CWE-125 Out-of-bounds Read
Fix: None yet; No fixed version published

Description

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:

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:

/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 versions

PyPI

Package	Vulnerable	Fixed in
exiv2	`<= 0.17.3`	No fix yet

How to fix

No fixed version has been published yet. Until one is, remove or replace the package, or turn off or isolate the affected feature. This page updates when a fix ships.

Severity breakdown

CVSS 4.0 0.0

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

Attack vector: Local
Attack complexity: Low
Attack requirements: Present
Privileges required: None
User interaction: Active
Confidentiality (vulnerable system): None
Integrity (vulnerable system): None
Availability (vulnerable system): Low
Confidentiality (subsequent systems): None
Integrity (subsequent systems): None
Availability (subsequent systems): None

CVSS 3.1 5.5

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack vector: Local
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: None
User interaction: Required
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Weakness

CWE-125: Out-of-bounds Read

The product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.

How to prevent it

Implementation: Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does. When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across related fields, and conformance to business rules. As an example of business rule logic, "boat" may be syntactically valid because it only contains alphanumeric characters, but it is not valid if the input is only expected to contain colors such as "red" or "blue." Do not rely exclusively on looking for malicious or malformed inputs. This is likely to miss at least one undesirable input, especially if the code's environment changes. This can give attackers enough room to bypass the intended validation. However, denylists can be useful for detecting potential attacks or determining which inputs are so malformed that they should be rejected outright. To reduce the likelihood of introducing an out-of-bounds read, ensure that you validate and ensure correct calculations for any length argument, buffer size calculation, or offset. Be especially careful of relying on a sentinel (i.e. special character such as NUL) in untrusted inputs.
Architecture and Design: Use a language that provides appropriate memory abstractions.

References

Advisories

Packages

Timeline

Aug 29, 2025 Published
Oct 19, 2026 Last updated by the source
Oct 31, 2026 Latest EPSS score

Advisory	Severity	Why it's related
GHSA-m54q-mm9w-fp6g Exiv2 has quadratic performance in ICC profile parsing in JpegBase::readMetadata	Medium	Also affects exiv2
GHSA-38h4-fx85-qcx7 Exiv2 allows Use After Free	Critical	Also affects exiv2
GHSA-g9xm-7538-mq8w Exiv2 has an out-of-bounds read in QuickTimeVideo::NikonTagsDecoder	Medium	Also affects exiv2
GHSA-crmj-qh74-2r36 Exiv2 has a denial of service due to unbounded recursion in QuickTimeVideo::multipleEntriesDecoder	Medium	Also affects exiv2
PYSEC-2023-233 Exiv2 is a C++ library and a command-line utility to read, write, delete and modify Exif, IPTC, XMP and ICC image metadata.	High	Also affects exiv2
PYSEC-2023-150 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…	High	Also affects exiv2
PYSEC-2021-879 An uncontrolled memory allocation in DataBufdata(subBox.length-sizeof(box)) function of Exiv2 0.27 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (DOS) via a…	Medium	Also affects exiv2
PYSEC-2021-877 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…	High	Also affects exiv2

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