CVE-2026-59156 OpenImageIO: Unbounded recursion in FITS header parser leads to stack overflow
A crafted FITS image file causes unbounded recursion in OpenImageIO, leading to stack overflow and application crash.
- 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-2026-59156?
CVE-2026-59156 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Openimageio Openimageio, published on 18 Sep 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
OpenImageIO is a toolset for reading, writing, and manipulating image files of any image file format relevant to VFX / animation. Prior to 3.0.20.0, 3.1.15.0, and 3.2.0.3-beta1, A crafted fits stream containing consecutive 2880-byte header blocks without the mandatory end keyword makes fitsinput::read_fits_header() call itself without a depth bound. repeated recursive parsing exhausts the application stack, resulting in denial of service. The affected implementation is identified by src/fits.imageio/fitsinput.cpp, FitsInput::read_fits_header(), END keyword, and 2880-byte FITS header blocks, which define the relevant source path, functions, state, and trigger. This issue is fixed in versions 3.0.20.0, 3.1.15.0, and 3.2.0.3-beta1.
Weakness: CWE-674
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-59156?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Openimageio Openimageio.
How do I fix CVE-2026-59156?
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-2026-59156 being exploited?
It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-59156 exists.
Other vulnerabilities in Openimageio Openimageio
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2026-59156, GHSA-xvwr-x6ch-v2fq, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-59156.