CVE-2026-41069 libheif allows Out-of-bounds vector access leading to invalid dereference (DoS)
A malformed HEIF file triggers an out-of-bounds read and null dereference in libheif, causing a denial of service.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-41069?
CVE-2026-41069 is a medium-severity vulnerability in strukturag libheif, published on 22 May 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Official description
libheif is a HEIF and AVIF file format decoder and encoder. In versions 1.21.2 and prior, a malformed HEIF sequence file can trigger an out-of-bounds read in core sequence parsing logic, causing DoS. A malformed file can have stco.entry_count == 0 (creating no chunks) while still passing validation because saio.entry_count == 0 matches, but with saiz.sample_count > 0 the SampleAuxInfoReader constructor still enters its loop. This leads to an out-of-bounds dereference on the empty chunks[0] in chunked mode.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-41069?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Struktur Libheif.
How do I fix CVE-2026-41069?
Upgrade to a fixed version.
Is CVE-2026-41069 being exploited?
It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-41069 exists.
Other vulnerabilities in strukturag libheif
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-41069, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-41069, GHSA-p82x-fpmv-576r, JLSEC-2026-573, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-41069, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-41069 and 1 more.