CVE-2026-62986 OpenEXR: PyOpenEXR deep prefixed RGB stale lane disclosure
Attackers can expose uninitialized heap memory by crafting deep EXR files processed by PyOpenEXR, potentially leaking sensitive data.
- 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-2026-62986?
CVE-2026-62986 is a medium-severity vulnerability in AcademySoftwareFoundation openexr, published on 25 Aug 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
OpenEXR is the reference implementation and specification for the EXR image file format, widely used in the motion picture industry. In versions 3.3.0 through 3.3.12 and 3.4.0 through 3.4.13, the PyOpenEXR Python bindings return stale heap data when reading a crafted deep scanline EXR that uses layer-prefixed RGB channels. With the default channel coalescing (separate_channels=False), the wrapper groups channels such as left.R, left.G, and left.B into a single RGB sample array, but the lane-offset calculation in PyPart::setDeepSliceData() only recognizes the exact unprefixed names G, B, and A. As a result, prefixed channels like left.G and left.B are decoded into lane 0 while lanes 1 and 2 are left uninitialized and returned to Python. A Python application that reads untrusted deep EXR files through the default OpenEXR.File API and then logs, serializes, previews, or otherwise processes the resulting NumPy sample arrays may expose uninitialized same-process heap contents, in addition to receiving incorrect green and blue channel data. This issue is fixed in versions 3.3.13 and 3.4.14.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-62986?
How do I fix CVE-2026-62986?
Upgrade to a fixed version.
Is CVE-2026-62986 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-62986 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-62986, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-62986, GHSA-pf59-r2mc-x746, MINI-cm88-hvf9-rvxx, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-62986.