Denial of service via unchecked stsz sample_count
Published Aug 18, 2026 · Updated Aug 19, 2026
Resource exhaustion in the HEIF sequence parser in libheif before 1.23.0 allows remote attackers to crash or stall a process via a crafted HEIF sequence file. In libheif/sequences/seq_boxes.cc, Box_stsz::parse() reads stsz sample_count and enforces max_sequence_frames only for variable-size samples, while fixed-size mode stores the attacker-controlled count without a bound; Track::load() in libheif/sequences/track.cc also uses 32-bit addition for chunk range checks, so wraparound can bypass the consistency guard and drive Chunk::Chunk() into gigabyte-scale allocation. Exploitation requires only that an application parse an msf1-branded HEIF sequence through heif_context_read_from_memory(); no authentication, special privileges, or decoder backend is required, and the bounded consequence is denial of service through memory exhaustion rather than code execution.
Summary
What happened
Resource exhaustion in the HEIF sequence parser in libheif before 1.23.0 allows remote attackers to crash or stall a process via a crafted HEIF sequence file. In libheif/sequences/seq_boxes.cc, Box_stsz::parse() reads stsz sample_count and enforces max_sequence_frames only for variable-size samples, while fixed-size mode stores the attacker-controlled count without a bound; Track::load() in libheif/sequences/track.cc also uses 32-bit addition for chunk range checks, so wraparound can bypass the consistency guard and drive Chunk::Chunk() into gigabyte-scale allocation. Exploitation requires only that an application parse an msf1-branded HEIF sequence through heif_context_read_from_memory(); no authentication, special privileges, or decoder backend is required, and the bounded consequence is denial of service through memory exhaustion rather than code execution.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-50142
- Published
- Aug 18, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 19, 2026
- Vendor
- Struktur AG
- Product
- libheif
- Classifications
- CWE-190, CWE-770, T1499
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 18, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 19, 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=>= 1.19.0, < 1.23.0
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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