CVE-2026-41071 libheif: Heap buffer over-read in SampleAuxInfoReader via crafted HEIF sequence file with mismatched saiz sample count
Attackers can cause crashes or leak memory by tricking applications using libheif into opening malicious HEIF files.
- 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-2026-41071?
CVE-2026-41071 is a medium-severity memory corruption 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 crafted HEIF sequence file where the saiz box declares more samples than actually exist in the track's chunk table causes a heap-buffer-overflow (out-of-bounds read) in the SampleAuxInfoReader constructor. The SampleAuxInfoReader constructor iterates over saiz->get_num_samples() samples but doesn't validate that this count is consistent with the number of chunks in the chunks vector. When saiz declares more samples than the chunks cover, the loop increments current_chunk past chunks.size(), causing an out-of-bounds read on the chunks vector. The vulnerability is triggered during file parsing (heif_context_read_from_file) without any additional user interaction. Any application using libheif to open untrusted HEIF files is affected. This issue has been fixed in version 1.22.0.
Weakness: CWE-125
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-41071?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Struktur Libheif.
How do I fix CVE-2026-41071?
Upgrade to a fixed version.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2026-41071 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-41071 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in strukturag libheif
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-41071, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-41071, GHSA-xj92-xjff-h8w3, JLSEC-2026-574, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-41071, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-41071 and 1 more.