Heap corruption via wide-string HTML escaping
Published May 17, 2021 · Updated Jul 9, 2026
Heap-based buffer overflow in GNU LibreDWG 0.10.2641 allows attackers to corrupt heap memory through a crafted DWG file. The htmlwescape SVG helper writes beyond its heap allocation while converting wide-character drawing text into escaped HTML entities for dwg2SVG output. Exploitation requires a user or automated workflow to process the crafted drawing; the published proof of concept shows an AddressSanitizer-detected abort, not code execution.
Summary
What happened
Heap-based buffer overflow in GNU LibreDWG 0.10.2641 allows attackers to corrupt heap memory through a crafted DWG file. The htmlwescape SVG helper writes beyond its heap allocation while converting wide-character drawing text into escaped HTML entities for dwg2SVG output. Exploitation requires a user or automated workflow to process the crafted drawing; the published proof of concept shows an AddressSanitizer-detected abort, not code execution.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2020-21814
- Published
- May 17, 2021
- Updated
- Jul 9, 2026
- Vendor
- Unknown vendor
- Product
- Unknown product
- Classifications
- CWE-787, T1204.002
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 17, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jul 9, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Public exploit references
- Crafted DWG proof of concept for the htmlwescape overflowproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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