CVE-2025-55304 Exiv2 has quadratic performance in ICC profile parsing in JpegBase::readMetadata
Attackers can cause denial of service by providing crafted JPEG images that trigger quadratic time complexity in Exiv2's ICC profile parsing.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2025-55304?
CVE-2025-55304 is a low-severity denial of service vulnerability in Exiv2 Exiv2, published on 29 Aug 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Official description
Exiv2 is a C++ library and a command-line utility to read, write, delete and modify Exif, IPTC, XMP and ICC image metadata. A denial-of-service was found in Exiv2 version 0.28.5: a quadratic algorithm in the ICC profile parsing code in jpegBase::readMetadata() can cause Exiv2 to run for a long time. The denial-of-service is triggered when Exiv2 is used to read the metadata of a crafted jpg image file. The bug is fixed in version 0.28.6.
Weakness: CWE-407
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-55304?
3 open source packages ship an affected version, including exiv2 and Exiv2. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
exiv2 PyPI | All versions to 0.17.3 | None |
exiv2 PyPI | All versions to 0.17.3 | None |
Exiv2 PyPI | All versions to 0.17.3 | None |
Linux distribution packages (5)
exiv2-0_26 SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS | All versions | 0.26-150400.9.27.1 |
exiv2-0_26 SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS | All versions | 0.26-150400.9.27.1 |
exiv2-0_26 SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS | All versions | 0.26-150400.9.27.1 |
exiv2-0_26 SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 | All versions | 0.26-150400.9.27.1 |
exiv2-0_26 openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | All versions | 0.26-150400.9.27.1 |
Products include Exiv2 Exiv2.
How do I fix CVE-2025-55304?
Upgrade to a fixed version.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2025-55304 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-55304 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Exiv2 Exiv2
Sources
Also known as AZL-66708, AZL-66767, CLSA-2025-1760106873, CLSA-2025-1766136361, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-55304, GHSA-m54q-mm9w-fp6g and 4 more.