Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-21493

Memory Safety in Color Iccdev ≤ 2.3.1.2

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
06 January 2026
Modified
14 January 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.6
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:L/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0016 5th percentile
Risk Priority 47 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-21493 is a medium-severity Reliance on Data/Memory Layout (CWE-188) vulnerability in Color Iccdev. Its CVSS base score is 6.6 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 5th 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 SC-24 (Fail in Known State) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A10:2025 Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

iccDEV provides a set of libraries and tools for working with ICC color management profiles. Versions 2.3.1.1 and below are vulnerable to Type Confusion in its CIccSingleSampledeCurveXml class during XML Curve Serialization. This issue is fixed in version 2.3.1.2.

CWE(s)
CWE-188CWE-703CWE-843

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 →
T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Endpoint Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of services to users.
attack.mitre.org →
T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impact
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities that can cause an application or system to crash and deny availability to users.
attack.mitre.org →
T1055 Process Injection Stealth
Adversaries may inject code into processes in order to evade process-based defenses as well as possibly 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 →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-31793Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-31794Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-21693Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-21689Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-25503Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-21505Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-21683Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-21492Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-21690Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-21688Same 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)
  • V1.5.2
  • V3.2.3
  • V15.3.5

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation can discover incorrect layout assumptions through targeted test cases.

SC-24 Fail in Known State good match

Enforces failure to a known state while preserving required properties, limiting impact of unhandled exceptions.

SI-17 Fail-safe Procedures good match

Mandates explicit fail-safe procedures triggered by indicated failures, structurally preventing unhandled exceptional conditions.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Engineering principles applied during design can explicitly disallow assumptions about memory or protocol layout.

SC-39 Process Isolation partial match

Process isolation limits the blast radius when layout assumptions are violated but does not stop the flawed assumption itself.

SI-11 Error Handling partial match

Requires generation of safe, actionable error messages that directly addresses proper handling of exceptional conditions.

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 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly prevent invalid memory-layout assumptions via safe coding, reviews, and tooling.

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 can detect layout-related defects before release.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development lifecycle includes architecture and design reviews that can catch invalid memory-layout assumptions.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can mandate explicit data-structure and protocol-layout specifications.

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

Secure system architecture and engineering principles directly address assumptions about memory and protocol layout.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards and reviews target unsafe reliance on implicit data layout.

A.6.8 Information security event reporting none match
none

Reporting of unhandled errors or exceptional conditions surfaces latent failure paths so they can be corrected before exploitation.

References