Local process crash via empty matrix header
Published Feb 25, 2026 · Updated Feb 25, 2026
NULL pointer dereference in libvips 8.18.0 and earlier allows local users to crash an invoking process with an empty matrix file. vips_foreign_load_matrix_header passes a NULL line returned by vips_sbuf_get_line_copy to parse_matrix_header, whose strchr call dereferences it. Exploitation requires local ability to supply an empty matrix file to a libvips consumer and interrupts only the process that loads it.
Summary
What happened
NULL pointer dereference in libvips 8.18.0 and earlier allows local users to crash an invoking process with an empty matrix file. vips_foreign_load_matrix_header passes a NULL line returned by vips_sbuf_get_line_copy to parse_matrix_header, whose strchr call dereferences it. Exploitation requires local ability to supply an empty matrix file to a libvips consumer and interrupts only the process that loads it.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-3146
- Published
- Feb 25, 2026
- Updated
- Feb 25, 2026
- Vendor
- libvips
- Product
- libvips
- Classifications
- CWE-476, CWE-404, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Feb 25, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 25, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=8.0
- Affected versionversion=8.1
- Affected versionversion=8.10
- Affected versionversion=8.11
- Affected versionversion=8.12
- Affected versionversion=8.13
- Affected versionversion=8.14
- Affected versionversion=8.15
- Affected versionversion=8.16
- Affected versionversion=8.17
- Affected versionversion=8.18.0
- Affected versionversion=8.2
- Affected versionversion=8.3
- Affected versionversion=8.4
- Affected versionversion=8.5
- Affected versionversion=8.6
- Affected versionversion=8.7
- Affected versionversion=8.8
- Affected versionversion=8.9
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Empty matrix file crash reproducerproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
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