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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2023-47997: FreeImage · Infinite Loop

Source CVE Database V5

0

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.5 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
6.5Medium
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 58% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 9 Jan 2024

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

What to do

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
GitHubthelastede/FreeImagepkg:github/thelastede/FreeImageOther threatsAffected
  • =3.18.0
Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

  1. Monitor official FreeImage project channels for patches or updates addressing CVE-2023-47997 and apply them promptly once available.
  2. Implement strict input validation and sanitization for all image files processed by applications using FreeImage, rejecting or sandboxing untrusted or suspicious images.
  3. Employ application-level timeouts or watchdog mechanisms to detect and recover from infinite loops or hangs caused by malformed images.
  4. Educate users about the risks of opening images from untrusted sources to reduce the likelihood of triggering the vulnerability via social engineering.
  5. Where feasible, consider upgrading to alternative, actively maintained image processing libraries that do not exhibit this vulnerability.
  6. Use network-level protections such as web application firewalls (WAFs) to filter malicious payloads targeting image processing endpoints.
  7. Conduct regular security assessments and fuzz testing on image handling components to identify similar logic flaws proactively.

Description

An issue discovered in BitmapAccess.cpp::FreeImage_AllocateBitmap in FreeImage 3.18.0 leads to an infinite loop and allows attackers to cause a denial of service.

References

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