CVE-2020-26208 Heap-buffer-overflow in jhead

Medium 5.3 Published 2 Feb 2022 Updated 5 May 2025

A heap-buffer-overflow in Jhead allows attackers to cause crashes or potentially execute code via crafted JPEG images.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: Available

What is CVE-2020-26208?

CVE-2020-26208 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in n/a, published on 2 Feb 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

JHEAD is a simple command line tool for displaying and some manipulation of EXIF header data embedded in Jpeg images from digital cameras. In affected versions there is a heap-buffer-overflow on jhead-3.04/jpgfile.c:285 ReadJpegSections. Crafted jpeg images can be provided to the user resulting in a program crash or potentially incorrect exif information retrieval. Users are advised to upgrade. There is no known workaround for this issue.

Weakness: CWE-787

Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-26208?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Jhead Project Jhead.

How do I fix CVE-2020-26208?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.

Is CVE-2020-26208 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2020-26208 exists.

Sources

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2020-26208, GHSA-7pr6-xq4f-qhgc, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-26208.