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🛡️ CVE-2025-26623 — exiv2

🔴 CVSS 9.8 — Critical ⚠️ Exploit Public CWE-416 OSV
9.8
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

Exiv2 allows Use After Free

Impact

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.

Patches

The bug is fixed in version v0.28.5.

References

Issue: https://github.com/Exiv2/exiv2/issues/3168

Fix: https://github.com/Exiv2/exiv2/pull/3174

For more information

Please see our [security policy](https://github.com/Exiv2/exiv2/security/policy) for information about Exiv2 security.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached over the network, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs no privileges on the target. A user must be tricked into taking some action. Rated impact: confidentiality low, integrity low, availability low.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this 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

  • Attack vector: Network — reachable from anywhere that can route to the service.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Attack requirements: None — no deployment-specific condition has to hold.
  • Privileges required: None — an unauthenticated stranger can try it.
  • User interaction: Passive — a victim action is involved, but not a deliberate one.
  • Confidentiality impact: Low — limited, and the attacker does not choose what is affected.
  • Integrity impact: Low — limited, and the attacker does not choose what is affected.
  • Availability impact: Low — limited, and the attacker does not choose what is affected.

Weakness class

CVE-2025-26623 is classified as CWE-416: Use After Free. Memory is used after being released, so its contents may already belong to something else.

Affected software

CVE-2025-26623 is recorded against 1 package.

  • exiv2 (from 0.28.0 up to 0.28.5)

Timeline and source

Published on 7 July 2026. A public exploit is known to exist, which raises the urgency of patching considerably. Record sourced from OSV.

References

github.com (Web)
nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
github.com (Web)
github.com (Web)
github.com (Web)
github.com (Package)
pypi.org (Package)
github.com (Advisory)

Other advisories for this package

exiv2 has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

Same weakness in other software

These advisories are the same class of weakness (CWE-416: Use After Free) in other software:

CVE-2025-26623 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity CRITICAL
CVSS Score 9.8
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
CWE CWE-416
Public Exploit ⚠️ Yes
Source OSV
Published 2026-07-07
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-07-07
Fix URL N/A

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
exiv2 0.28.0 0.28.5

Similar Threats

Exploit Protection

Are you running exiv2?

CVE-2025-26623 carries CVSS 9.8 Critical rating and a public exploit already exists. BotEraser checks your installation against this and other known CVE records, and blocks IPs associated with exploit activity.

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ⓘ Data Notice: The information presented above has been compiled from publicly available internet sources. Boteraser aggregates this data solely for informational purposes and does not independently classify, evaluate, or endorse any findings about the vulnerabilities listed. The accuracy and completeness of this information is the sole responsibility of the original publishers. Boteraser and its operators accept no liability for any decisions made based on this data.

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