# CVE-2024-13978: LibTIFF fax2ps tiff2pdf.c t2p_read_tiff_init null pointer dereference

> A local attacker can cause a denial of service via null pointer dereference in LibTIFF's tiff2pdf tool, requiring high complexity and local access.

- **Severity:** Low 2.0 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 1 Aug 2025
- **Updated:** 3 Nov 2025
- **Also known as:** AZL-67256, AZL-67259, BELL-CVE-2024-13978, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-13978, ECHO-b9e1-8603-52cd, GHSA-p48p-6mxj-w7jx, JLSEC-2025-319, MINI-3rf7-m3fm-85r7, OESA-2025-1978, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-13978

## What is CVE-2024-13978?

CVE-2024-13978 is a low-severity vulnerability in Libtiff Libtiff, published on 1 Aug 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability was found in LibTIFF up to 4.7.0. It has been declared as problematic. Affected by this vulnerability is the function t2p_read_tiff_init of the file tools/tiff2pdf.c of the component fax2ps. The manipulation leads to null pointer dereference. The attack needs to be approached locally. The complexity of an attack is rather high. The exploitation appears to be difficult. The patch is named 2ebfffb0e8836bfb1cd7d85c059cd285c59761a4. It is recommended to apply a patch to fix this issue.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference), CWE-404 (Improper Resource Shutdown or Release)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-13978?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Libtiff Libtiff.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-13978?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-13978 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2024-13978 exists.

## Other vulnerabilities in Libtiff Libtiff

- [CVE-2004-1308](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-1308/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2004-0929](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-0929/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2025-61144](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-61144/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-9533](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-9533/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-9534](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-9534/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-13978 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-13978 is a low-severity vulnerability in Libtiff Libtiff, published on 1 Aug 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2024-13978 exists.

Affected product: Libtiff Libtiff. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-13978/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-13978/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-13978
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-13978
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-13978

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-13978/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.