Invalid pointer release in Tesseract OCR enables memory corruption
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · None
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 3 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
Tesseract OCR reads adapted class data from pre-adapted template .a files without clearing pointer fields, so the destructor path can release invalid pointers (CWE-763). When the legacy engine is selected with classify_use_pre_adapted_templates enabled, and an attacker can write the output-basename .a file, this causes memory corruption and denial of service.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-02
Description from the CNA
Tesseract is an open source OCR engine. Prior to 5.5.4, ReadAdaptedClass in src/classify/adaptive.cpp raw-reads an ADAPT_CLASS_STRUCT from a pre-adapted-template .a file without neutralizing TempProtos and Config pointer fields before any destructor path. When the legacy engine is selected, classify_use_pre_adapted_templates is enabled, and an attacker can write the output-basename .a file, the success or rejection path can pass file-controlled pointers to ~ADAPT_CLASS_STRUCT and operator delete, causing memory corruption and denial of service. This issue is fixed in version 5.5.4.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tesseract-ocr | tesseract | before 5.5.3 | 5.5.3 | Patch available | CNA |
- tesseract Vendortesseract-ocr Affected before 5.5.3 Fixed in 5.5.3 Patch available CNA
CPE names Threatist (inferred) · 1
Inferred from how NVD named this product before; not given by a source.
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:tesseract-ocr:tesseract_ocr:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | — | — | tesseract-ocr |
- cpe:2.3:a:tesseract-ocr:tesseract_ocr:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·tesseract-ocr
Remediation
Upgrade Tesseract to version 5.5.4, which fixes this issue. Red Hat lists Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, 9 and 10 as affected, with no fix plan available.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-02
- Fix · CNA tesseract (tesseract-ocr) Fixed in 5.5.3
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Timeline
- 2026-10-30 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-119341
- 2026-10-31 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-31 CVSS score added · Red Hat
- 2026-11-02 CISA SSVC decision points changed
- 2026-11-02 Priority changed: LOW → MEDIUM
References
More tesseract-ocr vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-60073 Tesseract: Heap out-of-bounds write in Classify::ReadIntTemplates via unvalidated counts in crafted .traineddata CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.6
- TI-2026-60071 Tesseract: Heap out-of-bounds write in GenericVector<T>::read due to independent reserved/size_used_ fields CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.6
- TI-2026-60069 Tesseract: Heap out-of-bounds write in LSTM::Forward via na_/gate-matrix dimension mismatch CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.6
- TI-2026-60068 Tesseract: Heap out-of-bounds write/read in FullyConnected::Forward via layer/weight-matrix dimension mismatch CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.6
- TI-2026-83384 Double free and use after free in Tesseract PAGE XML renderer CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 6.9
- TI-2026-60074 Tesseract: Denial of service via empty-stack dereference in Plumbing/Series at model load CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 6.9
Sources
- CVE-2026-119341 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-119341 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- CVE-2026-119341 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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