CVE-2026-27168 SAIL: Heap-based Buffer Overflow in Sail-codecs-xwd

High 8.8 Published 20 Feb 2026 Updated 25 Feb 2026

Heap-based buffer overflow in SAIL library allows attackers to execute code or crash applications via malicious XWD image files.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Not needed
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2026-27168?

CVE-2026-27168 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in HappySeaFox sail, published on 20 Feb 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

SAIL is a cross-platform library for loading and saving images with support for animation, metadata, and ICC profiles. All versions are vulnerable to Heap-based Buffer Overflow through the XWD parser's use of the bytes_per_line value. The value os read directly from the file as the read size in io->strict_read(), and is never compared to the actual size of the destination buffer. An attacker can provide an XWD file with an arbitrarily large bytes_per_line, causing a massive write operation beyond the buffer heap allocated for the image pixels. The issue did not have a fix at the time of publication.

Weakness: CWE-122

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-27168?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Sail Sail.

How do I fix CVE-2026-27168?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-27168 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

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

Is CVE-2026-27168 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-27168 exists.

Sources

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2026-27168, GHSA-3g38-x2pj-mv55, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-27168.