Denial of service due to infinite loop in JpegBase::printStructure (#2)
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- No fix listed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-835.
Summary
Exiv2 is a command-line utility and C++ library for reading, writing, deleting, and modifying the metadata of image files. An infinite loop was found in Exiv2 versions v0.27.4 and earlier. The infinite loop is triggered when Exiv2 is used to modify the metadata of a crafted image file. An attacker could potentially exploit the vulnerability to cause a denial of service, if they can trick the victim into running Exiv2 on a crafted image file. Note that this bug is only triggered when deleting the IPTC data, which is a less frequently used Exiv2 operation that requires an extra command line option (`-d I rm`). The bug is fixed in version v0.27.5.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exiv2 | exiv2 | up to 0.27.4 | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- exiv2 VendorExiv2 Affected up to 0.27.4 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 3
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:exiv2:exiv2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | up to 0.27.4 | Vulnerable | Exiv2 |
| cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:33:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 33 | Vulnerable | Fedoraproject |
| cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:34:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 34 | Vulnerable | Fedoraproject |
- cpe:2.3:a:exiv2:exiv2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions up to 0.27.4 Vulnerable ·Exiv2
- cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:33:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 33 Vulnerable ·Fedoraproject
- cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:34:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 34 Vulnerable ·Fedoraproject
Remediation
No fixed version listed by the sources yet.
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2021-37623
References
More Exiv2 vulnerabilities
- TI-2020-13478 Buffer Overflow vulnerability in tEXtToDataBuf function in pngimage.cpp in Exiv2 0.27.1… CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.8
- TI-2025-19560 Use After Free in Exiv2 CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 5.3
- TI-2020-13491 An uncontrolled memory allocation in DataBufdata(subBox.length-sizeof(box)) function of… CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 6.5
- TI-2018-08245 Exiv2 0.26 has a heap-based buffer overflow in getData in preview.cpp. CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2025-33923 Exiv2 Segmentation Faults in Exiv2::EpsImage::writeMetadata() via crafted EPS file CVSS 4.0LOW 1.8
- TI-2019-06608 An issue was discovered in Exiv2 0.27. CVSS 3.0HIGH 8.8
Sources
- CVE-2021-37623 · CVE Program
- CVE-2021-37623 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- CVE-2021-37623 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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