Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-21491

Memory Safety in Color Iccdev ≤ 2.3.1.2

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
06 January 2026
Modified
12 January 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0019 9th percentile
Risk Priority 45 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-21491 is a medium-severity Heap-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-122) vulnerability in Color Iccdev. Its CVSS base score is 6.1 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 9th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); 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-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2026-21491 is a unicode buffer overflow vulnerability in the iccDEV library, which provides tools and libraries for interacting with, manipulating, and applying International Color Consortium (ICC) color management profiles. The flaw resides in the `CIccTagTextDescription` component and affects all versions of iccDEV prior to 2.3.1.2. Applications or systems that process untrusted ICC color profiles using this library are at risk, potentially leading to memory corruption issues classified under CWE-122 (Heap-based Buffer Overflow), CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read), and CWE-193 (Off-by-one Error).

The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.1 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H), indicating a local attack vector with low complexity, no privileges required, but user interaction needed. An attacker with local access could exploit it by tricking a user into processing a specially crafted ICC profile, resulting in a heap-based buffer overflow. Successful exploitation could achieve high availability impact through application crashes or denial of service, alongside limited confidentiality impact via potential information disclosure from out-of-bounds reads.

Mitigation is addressed in iccDEV version 2.3.1.2, which includes patches via specific GitHub commits (7c2cb719a9de1c00844e457e070d657314383ee3 and e91fe722ac54ce497d410153e7405090e0565d7b). The project's security advisory (GHSA-4pv4-4x2x-6j88) and issue tracker (#396) detail the fix, with no known workarounds available for affected versions. Security practitioners should advise upgrading to the patched release and validating ICC profiles from untrusted sources.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

iccDEV provides a set of libraries and tools that allow for the interaction, manipulation, and application of International Color Consortium (ICC) color management profiles. A vulnerability present in versions prior to 2.3.1.2 affects users of the iccDEV library who process…

more

ICC color profiles. It results in unicode buffer overflow in `CIccTagTextDescription`. Version 2.3.1.2 contains a patch. No known workarounds are available.

CWE(s)
CWE-122CWE-125CWE-193

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
attack.mitre.org →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-21494Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-21490Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-21488Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-30982Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-24852Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-21504Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-34539Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-34540Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-34534Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-21676Same product: Color Iccdev

Affected Assets

color
iccdev
≤ 2.3.1.2

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V6.2.1
  • V1.4.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation (including fuzzing and memory-error detectors) can discover heap overflows after they have been coded.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

Input validation enforces bounds checking on data written to heap buffers, directly stopping the overflow condition from being introduced.

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

Requiring documented development standards and tools can embed bounds-checking and arithmetic-correctness rules that stop off-by-one mistakes at introduction.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Security engineering principles require use of memory-safe constructs and bounds-checked allocation routines that avoid introducing heap overflows.

SC-39 Process Isolation partial match

Process isolation confines the effects of an out-of-bounds read to the compromised process.

SI-16 Memory Protection partial match

Memory-protection mechanisms limit the ability of a heap overflow to execute attacker-controlled code or corrupt adjacent structures.

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.

PR.PS-06 full match
prevents

Secure-development practices directly require bounds checking and safe memory handling that prevent heap overflows.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover heap-overflow flaws but does not prevent their introduction in code.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Timely patching removes known heap-overflow instances after they exist.

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.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development and acceptance can detect heap overflows before release.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Logging can record evidence of an out-of-bounds read but does not prevent the weakness itself.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates practices that reduce the likelihood of introducing heap overflows.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify bounds-checking and safe memory APIs that mitigate heap overflows.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture and engineering principles include memory-safety and input-validation controls that address heap overflows.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards directly prescribe techniques (safe functions, bounds checks) that prevent heap-based buffer overflows.

References