VulnerabilityPublished 25 Feb 2026

CVE-2026-3146: libvips · NULL Pointer Dereference

Affects libvipsSource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.8 Medium.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 06:59 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score

4.8Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 9% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Attack Requirements: None
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None
Vulnerable system integrity: None
Vulnerable system availability: Low
Subsequent system confidentiality: None
Subsequent system integrity: None
Subsequent system availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable system is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or through terminal emulation (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., using social engineering techniques to trick a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: The attacker must take no measurable action to exploit the vulnerability. The attack requires no target-specific circumvention to exploit the vulnerability. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: None: The successful attack does not depend on the deployment and execution conditions of the vulnerable system. The attacker can expect to be able to reach the vulnerability and execute the exploit under all or most instances of the vulnerability.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker requires privileges that provide basic capabilities that are typically limited to settings and resources owned by a single low-privileged user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges has the ability to access only non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without interaction from any human user, other than the attacker.
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the Vulnerable System are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Subsequent System or all confidentiality impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Subsequent System or all integrity impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Subsequent System or all availability impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v4.0 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 25 Feb 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by 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 29 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
libvips	Affected 8.0 – 8.18.0 19 affected builds	Fixed in–
GitHublibvips/libvips`pkg:github/libvips/libvips`Other threats	Affected 8.0 – 8.18.0 19 affected builds	Fixed in–

CPE configurations (1)

cpe:2.3:a:libvips:libvips:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

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AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2026-3146, organizations should promptly apply the official patch identified by commit d4ce337c76bff1b278d7085c3c4f4725e3aa6ece to all affected libvips versions (8.0 through 8.18.0). If patching is not immediately possible, consider restricting local access to systems running libvips to trusted users only, minimizing the risk of local exploitation. Implement monitoring for application crashes or unusual behavior in services utilizing libvips to detect potential exploitation attempts. Employ application whitelisting and privilege separation to limit the ability of low-privilege users to execute or influence image processing workflows. Regularly update software dependencies and conduct security audits of image processing components. For containerized or cloud environments, rebuild images with updated libvips versions and redeploy to ensure consistent patching. Finally, maintain an incident response plan to quickly address any denial of service incidents related to this vulnerability.

Description

A vulnerability has been found in libvips up to 8.18.0. The impacted element is the function vips_foreign_load_matrix_header of the file libvips/foreign/matrixload.c. The manipulation leads to null pointer dereference. The attack needs to be performed locally. The identifier of the patch is d4ce337c76bff1b278d7085c3c4f4725e3aa6ece. To fix this issue, it is recommended to deploy a patch.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2026-3146 is a denial of service condition caused by application crashes when processing specially crafted matrix headers in libvips. Organizations using libvips in their image processing workflows may experience service interruptions, potentially affecting web applications, media processing pipelines, or cloud services that rely on libvips. Although exploitation requires local access, this could be leveraged by malicious insiders or attackers who have gained limited foothold in a system to escalate disruption. The vulnerability does not expose sensitive data or allow code execution, limiting its impact to availability. However, in environments where libvips is a critical component, such as content delivery networks or automated image processing services, even temporary outages can lead to significant operational and reputational damage. The broad range of affected versions increases the likelihood that many deployments remain vulnerable if not patched. No known active exploitation reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the need for remediation.

References

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