Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-21504

Memory Safety in Color Iccdev ≤ 2.3.1.2

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
07 January 2026
Modified
09 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 0.0019 8th percentile
Risk Priority 48 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-21504 is a medium-severity Heap-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-122) 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 8th 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-2026-21504 is a heap buffer overflow vulnerability in the ToneMap parser of iccDEV, a set of libraries and tools for interacting with, manipulating, and applying ICC color management profiles. The flaw affects versions of iccDEV prior to 2.3.1.2 and is classified under CWE-122 (Heap-based Buffer Overflow), CWE-193 (Off-by-one Error), and CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write). It carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.6 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H), indicating medium severity with primary impact on availability.

A local attacker can exploit this vulnerability by tricking a user into processing a malicious ICC profile file through iccDEV tools or libraries, requiring low attack complexity and no privileges. Successful exploitation could result in limited disclosure of sensitive information, limited modification of data, and high-impact denial of service via application crash or heap corruption, potentially leading to code execution in the context of the affected process.

Mitigation is available in iccDEV version 2.3.1.2, where the issue was addressed via patches detailed in GitHub commits 14fe3785e6b1f9992375b2a24617a0d7f6a70f95 and 23a38f83f2a5874a1c4427df59ec342af3277cad, associated with issue #366 and pull request #415. The fix modifies the ToneMap parsing logic in IccMpeBasic.cpp around line 4557. Security practitioners should update to the patched version and validate 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 ICC color management profiles. Prior to version 2.3.1.2, iccDEV is vulnerable to heap buffer overflow in the ToneMap parser. This issue has been…

more

patched in version 2.3.1.2.

CWE(s)
CWE-122CWE-193CWE-787

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-2023-46602Same vendor: Color
CVE-2023-47249Same vendor: Color
CVE-2023-46866Same vendor: Color
CVE-2024-3758Shared CWE-122, CWE-787
CVE-2023-37294Shared CWE-122, CWE-787
CVE-2024-27374Shared CWE-122, CWE-787
CVE-2023-26416Shared CWE-122, CWE-787
CVE-2024-45139Shared CWE-122, CWE-787
CVE-2023-20081Shared CWE-122, CWE-787
CVE-2023-4692Shared CWE-122, CWE-787

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.

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.8.25 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.

A.8.32 Change management partial match
prevents

Change management can enforce review gates that catch unsafe memory operations before deployment.

References