CVE-2026-21681
Published: 07 January 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-21681 is a high-severity Improper Input Validation (CWE-20) vulnerability in Color Iccdev. Its CVSS base score is 7.1 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Malicious File (T1204.002); ranked at the 32.0th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Likely Mitigating ControlsAI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Security testing and developer training directly verify and enforce proper input validation, reducing exploitability of injection and malformed-data weaknesses.
Security testing and evaluation at multiple SDLC stages directly detects missing or flawed input validation, with the required remediation process ensuring fixes are applied.
Directly implements checks on information inputs to reject invalid data before processing.
Spam protection mechanisms perform filtering and detection on inbound/outbound messages, directly compensating for missing or weak input validation of unsolicited content.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Malicious ICC profile file triggers UB/crash (T1204.002 delivery + T1499.004 application exploitation for DoS).
NVD Description
iccDEV provides a set of libraries and tools that allow for the interaction, manipulation, and application of International Color Consortium (ICC) color management profiles. Versions prior to 2.3.1.2 have a Undefined Behavior runtime error. This vulnerability affects users of the…
more
iccDEV library who process ICC color profiles. Version 2.3.1.2 contains a patch. No known workarounds are available.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2026-21681 is an Undefined Behavior runtime error in the iccDEV library, a set of libraries and tools for interacting with, manipulating, and applying International Color Consortium (ICC) color management profiles. The vulnerability affects versions prior to 2.3.1.2 and impacts users of the iccDEV library who process ICC color profiles. It stems from CWE-20: Improper Input Validation, with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.1 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H).
An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability over the network with low complexity by tricking a user into processing a malicious ICC color profile, requiring user interaction such as opening a specially crafted file. Successful exploitation results in no confidentiality impact, low integrity impact, and high availability impact, potentially leading to application crashes or denial of service due to the undefined behavior.
The GitHub security advisory (GHSA-v4qq-v3c3-x62x) and associated pull request (#269) in the InternationalColorConsortium/iccDEV repository confirm that version 2.3.1.2 includes a patch to address the issue. No known workarounds are available.
Details
- CWE(s)