The iccDEV library, maintained by the International Color Consortium, provides tools and libraries for handling ICC color profiles used widely in color management workflows. Versions prior to 2.3.1.2 contain a type confusion vulnerability in the CIccProfileXml::ParseBasic() function located in IccXML/IccLibXML/IccProfileXml.cpp. This vulnerability arises from improper input validation when parsing ICC profiles, allowing crafted profiles to cause the program to misinterpret data types. The resulting type confusion can lead to memory corruption and application crashes, effectively causing a denial of service (DoS). The vulnerability is exploitable remotely without authentication, but requires the victim to process a malicious ICC profile, implying user interaction. The CVSS v3.1 score is 6.5 (medium severity), reflecting the network attack vector, low attack complexity, no privileges required, but requiring user interaction and impacting availability only. No known exploits have been reported in the wild. The vendor has addressed the issue in version 2.3.1.2, but no workarounds exist. The vulnerability is associated with multiple CWEs including CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation), CWE-190 (Integer Overflow), CWE-232 (Incorrect Handling of Extra Data), CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference), CWE-690 (Unchecked Return Value), and CWE-754 (Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions).

For European organizations, the primary impact of this vulnerability is the potential disruption of services that rely on iccDEV for color profile processing, such as digital imaging, printing, and graphic design workflows. A successful exploit could cause application crashes leading to denial of service, interrupting business operations and possibly delaying critical production processes. Although confidentiality and integrity are not directly affected, availability issues can have downstream effects on operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. Organizations using automated pipelines or software that automatically processes ICC profiles are at higher risk, especially if user interaction is involved in profile handling. The lack of known exploits reduces immediate risk, but the medium severity and ease of exploitation warrant prompt remediation to avoid potential future attacks.

European organizations should immediately upgrade all instances of iccDEV to version 2.3.1.2 or later to apply the official patch. Since no workarounds exist, patching is the primary mitigation. Additionally, organizations should implement strict validation and sanitization of ICC profiles before processing, possibly by restricting profile sources to trusted vendors or scanning profiles with security tools. Monitoring and logging of applications handling ICC profiles should be enhanced to detect abnormal crashes or processing failures. Where possible, isolate systems that process ICC profiles from critical infrastructure to limit impact. Educate users about the risks of opening or processing untrusted ICC profiles, especially in email attachments or downloads. Finally, maintain up-to-date backups and incident response plans to quickly recover from potential denial of service incidents.