CVE-2026-44035: CWE-674 Uncontrolled Recursion in OFFIS DCMTK
Description
CVE-2026-44035 is a medium severity vulnerability in OFFIS DCMTK version 3.7.0 caused by uncontrolled recursion in the DcmDicomDir::moveRecordToTree() function. This flaw allows denial of service via stack exhaustion and process crash when processing a crafted DICOMDIR file with a deeply chained sequence of directory records. The issue affects any application that opens the DICOMDIR, including dcmgpdir and media viewers built on DCMTK. The vulnerability has been fixed in a specific commit.
CVSS v4.0
Score 6.8medium
Affected software
OFFIS
DCMTK
cpe:2.3:a:offis:dcmtk:3.7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*Run on your own infrastructure? Check whether these packages are installed with threat-finder — our free open-source scanner.
Weaknesses
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
The vulnerability arises from uncontrolled recursion in the moveRecordToTree() function within dcmdata/libsrc/dcdicdir.cc of OFFIS DCMTK 3.7.0. An attacker can craft a malicious DICOMDIR file containing a deeply chained sequence of directory records linked through the Offset of Referenced Lower-Level Directory Entity attribute. When such a file is processed, it triggers stack exhaustion leading to a denial of service via process crash. This affects all applications using DCMTK 3.7.0 that open DICOMDIR files. The issue is resolved in commit ca761f7f3dcaaddaa95be87cf5d736138d7c3a9f.
Potential Impact
Successful exploitation causes denial of service due to stack exhaustion and process crash when processing maliciously crafted DICOMDIR files. There is no indication of privilege escalation, data disclosure, or code execution. The impact is limited to availability disruption of affected applications.
Mitigation Recommendations
A fix is available and has been implemented in commit ca761f7f3dcaaddaa95be87cf5d736138d7c3a9f. Users of DCMTK version 3.7.0 should apply this update or later versions that include this fix to remediate the vulnerability. No additional mitigation steps are indicated.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- securin
- Date Reserved
- 2026-05-05T02:49:00.667Z
- Cvss Version
- 4.0
- State
- PUBLISHED
Threat ID: 6ac794de2cdf04f6561753cf
Added to database: 10/08/2026, 13:04:30 UTC
Last enriched: 10/08/2026, 13:18:56 UTC
Last updated: 10/08/2026, 13:19:31 UTC
Views: 4
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