Security Resilience

CVE-2023-47997

DoS in Freeimage Project Freeimage 3.18.0

Public PoCDoS
Published
10 January 2024
Modified
04 November 2025
CVSS Score v3.1 6.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0088 58th percentile
Risk Priority 52 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-47997 is a medium-severity Infinite Loop (CWE-835) vulnerability in Freeimage Project Freeimage. Its CVSS base score is 6.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked in the top 42% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

An issue discovered in BitmapAccess.cpp::FreeImage_AllocateBitmap in FreeImage 3.18.0 leads to an infinite loop and allows attackers to cause a denial of service.

CWE(s)
CWE-835

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001 Data Obfuscation Command And Control
Adversaries may obfuscate command and control traffic to make it more difficult to detect.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.003 NTDS Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access or create a copy of the Active Directory domain database in order to steal credential information, as well as obtain other information about domain members such as devices, users, and access rights.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.005 Cached Domain Credentials Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access cached domain credentials used to allow authentication to occur in the event a domain controller is unavailable.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.008 /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump the contents of <code>/etc/passwd</code> and <code>/etc/shadow</code> to enable offline password cracking.
attack.mitre.org →
T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
attack.mitre.org →
T1011.001 Exfiltration Over Bluetooth Exfiltration
Adversaries may attempt to exfiltrate data over Bluetooth rather than the command and control channel.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-31570Same product: Freeimage Project Freeimage
CVE-2025-70968Same product: Freeimage Project Freeimage
CVE-2023-47996Same product: Freeimage Project Freeimage
CVE-2023-47994Same product: Freeimage Project Freeimage
CVE-2025-65803Same product: Freeimage Project Freeimage
CVE-2023-47992Same product: Freeimage Project Freeimage
CVE-2024-28584Same product: Freeimage Project Freeimage
CVE-2024-28577Same product: Freeimage Project Freeimage
CVE-2024-28573Same product: Freeimage Project Freeimage
CVE-2024-28575Same product: Freeimage Project Freeimage

Affected Assets

freeimage project
freeimage
3.18.0

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation can discover unreachable loop exit conditions through static analysis, fuzzing, or execution tracing.

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match

Flaw remediation processes identify and correct infinite-loop defects reported from testing or operations.

SA-15 Development Process, Standards, and Tools partial match

Requiring documented development processes and secure coding standards reduces introduction of loops whose termination conditions are unreachable.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

ID.RA-01 partial match
blocks

Static analysis and vuln scanning during asset assessment can detect unreachable loop exits.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices (reviews, testing, static analysis) directly prevent introduction of infinite-loop defects.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
removes
A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.8.10 Information deletion partial match
removes

References