# CVE-2025-29769: libvips has a potential heap-based buffer overflow when attempting to convert multiband TIFF input to HEIF output

> A heap buffer overflow in libvips allows attackers to crash the application by processing a crafted multiband TIFF image for HEIF conversion.

- **Severity:** High 8.5 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N`)
- **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:** 7 Apr 2025
- **Updated:** 30 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2025-29769, DLA-4148-1, DSA-5915-1, GHSA-f8r8-43hh-rghm, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-29769, USN-8755-1

## What is CVE-2025-29769?

CVE-2025-29769 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 7 Apr 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

libvips is a demand-driven, horizontally threaded image processing library.  The heifsave operation could incorrectly determine the presence of an alpha channel in an input when it was not possible to determine the colour interpretation, known internally within libvips as "multiband". There aren't many ways to create a "multiband" input, but it is possible with a well-crafted TIFF image. If a "multiband" TIFF input image had 4 channels and HEIF-based output was requested, this led to libvips creating a 3 channel HEIF image without an alpha channel but then attempting to write 4 channels of data. This caused a heap buffer overflow, which could crash the process. This vulnerability is fixed in 8.16.1.

Weakness: CWE-122 (Heap-based Buffer Overflow)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-29769?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Libvips Libvips.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-29769?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2025-29769 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-29769 in the wild and no public exploit code.

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- [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-29769 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-29769 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 7 Apr 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-29769 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian Linux. 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-2025-29769/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-29769/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-29769
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-29769
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-29769

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-29769/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.