NVD / CVE Program· CNA GitHub_M

CVE-2025-26623: Use After Free in Exiv2

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 21/100)

The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.91% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 60.4% of all records.
Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
According to CISA the attack is automatable: targets can be found by mass scanning.
Fixed version: exiv2 (AlmaLinux:10) 0.28.3-3.el10_0.2; exiv2-devel (AlmaLinux:10) 0.28.3-3.el10_0.2; exiv2-doc (AlmaLinux:10) 0.28.3-3.el10_0.2.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to exiv2 (AlmaLinux:10) 0.28.3-3.el10_0.2; exiv2-devel (AlmaLinux:10) 0.28.3-3.el10_0.2; exiv2-doc (AlmaLinux:10) 0.28.3-3.el10_0.2 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

Exiv2 is a C++ library and a command-line utility to read, write, delete and modify Exif, IPTC, XMP and ICC image metadata. A heap buffer overflow was found in Exiv2 versions v0.28.0 to v0.28.4. Versions prior to v0.28.0, such as v0.27.7, are **not** affected. Exiv2 is a command-line utility and C++ library for reading, writing, deleting, and modifying the metadata of image files. 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 `fixiso`. The bug is fixed in version v0.28.5. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

MediumCVSS 5.3 · v4.0—No exploit Fix available

Published: Feb 18, 2025
Updated: Jun 17, 2026
EPSS: 0.9% · 60th percentile
CWE: CWE-416

Report tools

JSON

Action score

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS: 21 / 40 · 5.3 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 0 / 30 · 0.9%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation: proof of concept
Automatable: yes
Technical impact: partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD: —
CNA · GitHub_M: 5.3; NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
No public exploit code on record
A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
exiv2	exiv2	cpe:2.3:a:exiv2:exiv2

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

exiv2 exiv20.28.0 and later · before 0.28.5

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (GitHub_M). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

Exiv2 exiv2
- >= 0.28.0, < 0.28.5affected

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

Ecosystem	Package	Affected range	Fix
AlmaLinux:10	exiv2	before 0.28.3-3.el10_0.2	0.28.3-3.el10_0.2
AlmaLinux:10	exiv2-devel	before 0.28.3-3.el10_0.2	0.28.3-3.el10_0.2
AlmaLinux:10	exiv2-doc	before 0.28.3-3.el10_0.2	0.28.3-3.el10_0.2
AlmaLinux:10	exiv2-libs	before 0.28.3-3.el10_0.2	0.28.3-3.el10_0.2
Alpine:v3.22	exiv2	from 0.28.0 · before 0.28.5-r0	0.28.5-r0
Debian:13	exiv2	before 0.28.4+dfsg-2	0.28.4+dfsg-2
openSUSE:Leap 16.0	exiv2	before 0.28.8-160000.1.1	0.28.8-160000.1.1
openSUSE:Tumbleweed	exiv2	before 0.28.8-1.1	0.28.8-1.1
PyPI	exiv2	from 0.28.0 · before 0.28.5	0.28.5
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0	exiv2	before 0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2	0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0	exiv2-debuginfo	before 0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2	0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0	exiv2-debugsource	before 0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2	0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0	exiv2-devel	before 0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2	0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0	exiv2-doc	before 0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2	0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0	exiv2-libs	before 0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2	0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2
Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0	exiv2-libs-debuginfo	before 0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2	0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2
Rocky Linux:10	exiv2	before 0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2	0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 16.0	exiv2	before 0.28.8-160000.1.1	0.28.8-160000.1.1

Same product

exiv2: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2018-11531Exiv2 0.26 has a heap-based buffer overflow in getData in preview.cpp.
40Plan
CVE-2019-9144An issue was discovered in Exiv2 0.27.
36Monitor
CVE-2019-9143An issue was discovered in Exiv2 0.27.
36Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2024-25112Feb 12, 2024 · Denial of service due to unbounded recursion in QuickTimeVideo::multipleEntriesDecoder in Exiv2
20Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2024-39695Jul 8, 2024 · Exiv2 has an out-of-bounds read in AsfVideo::streamProperties
26Monitor
Later →CVE-2025-54080Aug 29, 2025 · Exiv2 Segmentation Faults in Exiv2::EpsImage::writeMetadata() via crafted EPS file
7Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / package	Fixed version	Source
almalinux:exiv2	0.28.3-3.el10_0.2 · AlmaLinux:10	Package registry (OSV)
almalinux:exiv2-devel	0.28.3-3.el10_0.2 · AlmaLinux:10	Package registry (OSV)
almalinux:exiv2-doc	0.28.3-3.el10_0.2 · AlmaLinux:10	Package registry (OSV)
almalinux:exiv2-libs	0.28.3-3.el10_0.2 · AlmaLinux:10	Package registry (OSV)
alpine:exiv2	0.28.5-r0 · Alpine:v3.22	Package registry (OSV)
debian:exiv2	0.28.4+dfsg-2 · Debian:13	Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:exiv2	0.28.8-1.1 · openSUSE:Tumbleweed	Package registry (OSV)
PyPI:exiv2	0.28.5	Package registry (OSV)
red hat:exiv2	0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0	Package registry (OSV)
red hat:exiv2-debuginfo	0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0	Package registry (OSV)
red hat:exiv2-debugsource	0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0	Package registry (OSV)
red hat:exiv2-devel	0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0	Package registry (OSV)
red hat:exiv2-doc	0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0	Package registry (OSV)
red hat:exiv2-libs	0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0	Package registry (OSV)
red hat:exiv2-libs-debuginfo	0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0	Package registry (OSV)
rocky linux:exiv2	0:0.28.3-3.el10_0.2 · Rocky Linux:10	Package registry (OSV)
suse:exiv2	0.28.8-160000.1.1 · SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 16.0	Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
No account or password is required.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: None
User interaction: P
Scope: X

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-416 · Use After Free

CVSS vector

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

nvd-secondary

Root cause

After a memory region is freed, another reference pointing to it is still used. By then, the same region may have been allocated for different data.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-416 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

1free(dev->buf);
2/* ... another thread is still running ... */
3process(dev->buf);

Fixed

1lock(&dev->lock);
2free(dev->buf);
3dev->buf = NULL;
4unlock(&dev->lock);

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Change log

Fix✗ → ✓Sep 28, 2026, 10:46 PM UTC

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

github.com/Exiv2/exiv2/security/advisories/GHSA-38h4-fx85-qcx7

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records