Application crash via unchecked AppInfo comparison
Published May 17, 2021 · Updated Jul 9, 2026
Heap buffer overflow in read_2004_section_appinfo in GNU LibreDWG 0.10 allows attackers to crash applications via crafted DWG files. While decoding an AppInfo string, appinfo_private passes a six-byte heap allocation to memcmp for a 12-byte comparison, reading beyond the buffer. A user or service must process the file; the public reproducer demonstrates an out-of-bounds read and application crash, not code execution.
Summary
What happened
Heap buffer overflow in read_2004_section_appinfo in GNU LibreDWG 0.10 allows attackers to crash applications via crafted DWG files. While decoding an AppInfo string, appinfo_private passes a six-byte heap allocation to memcmp for a 12-byte comparison, reading beyond the buffer. A user or service must process the file; the public reproducer demonstrates an out-of-bounds read and application crash, not code execution.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2020-21838
- Published
- May 17, 2021
- Updated
- Jul 9, 2026
- Vendor
- Unknown vendor
- Product
- Unknown product
- Classifications
- CWE-787, T1203
- 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 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
- LibreDWG AppInfo heap-buffer-overflow proof of conceptproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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