Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in libheif - #VU153968
Published: October 8, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU153968
CSH Severity: Medium
CVSS v4: 8.7 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: N/A
CWE-ID: CWE-770
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to cause a denial of service.
The vulnerability exists due to allocation of resources without enforced memory limits in the JPEG 2000 pclr box parser in libheif/codecs/jpeg2000_boxes.cc when processing palette boxes with zero columns. A remote attacker can submit a specially crafted HEIC/HEIF file containing palette boxes that declare 65,535 entries without palette data to cause a denial of service.
Nested j2kH containers permit repeated palette allocations within the default child-box and nesting limits.
Affected software
libheif
Remediation
Install security update from vendor's website.
libheif - update to 1.23.5