Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-21682

Memory Safety in Color Iccdev ≤ 2.3.1.2

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
07 January 2026
Modified
14 January 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0031 24th percentile
Risk Priority 63 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-21682 is a high-severity Improper Input Validation (CWE-20) vulnerability in Color Iccdev. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 24th 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-2026-21682 is a heap-buffer-overflow vulnerability in the `CIccXmlArrayType::ParseText()` function within the iccDEV library, a set of libraries and tools for interacting with, manipulating, and applying International Color Consortium (ICC) color management profiles. The flaw affects versions of iccDEV prior to 2.3.1.2 and impacts users or applications that process ICC color profiles using the library. It is classified under CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation) and CWE-122 (Heap-based Buffer Overflow), with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8.

Attackers can exploit this vulnerability remotely over the network with low complexity and no required privileges, but it requires user interaction, such as tricking a victim into processing a malicious ICC profile. Successful exploitation could result in high-impact confidentiality, integrity, and availability violations, potentially allowing arbitrary code execution, data corruption, or denial of service on the affected system.

The official mitigation is to upgrade to iccDEV version 2.3.1.2, which includes a patch for the vulnerability. No known workarounds are available. Relevant advisories and fixes are detailed in the project's GitHub security advisory (GHSA-jq9m-54gr-c56c), issue tracker (#178), and pull request (#229).

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

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. Versions prior to 2.3.1.2 have a heap-buffer-overflow in `CIccXmlArrayType::ParseText()`. This vulnerability affects users of the iccDEV…

more

library who process ICC color profiles. Version 2.3.1.2 contains a patch. No known workarounds are available.

CWE(s)

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.
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.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1036.001 Invalid Code Signature Stealth
Adversaries may attempt to mimic features of valid code signatures to increase the chance of deceiving a user, analyst, or tool.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-24405Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-24406Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-24412Same 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
CVE-2026-34535Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-21678Same product: Color Iccdev
CVE-2026-21488Same 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)
  • 6 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.4.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can discover missing input validation through analysis or test cases.

SI-10 directly requires validity checks on information inputs, structurally preventing improper or missing validation.

Requiring documented development standards and tools can embed input-validation practices into the engineering process.

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

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.

finds

Testing against a defined set of requirements and using code review plus vulnerability scanning forces validation of inputs and handling of unanticipated conditions, reducing the chance that malformed data will be accepted.

prevents

Secure-coding guidelines and mandatory security testing (including code scans) compel developers to validate and sanitize inputs at design and implementation time, lowering the incidence of malformed or malicious data reaching downstream components.

prevents

Mandating input controls that include integrity checks and input validation ensures that untrusted data is examined before use, blocking the root cause of many injection and malformed-data weaknesses.

prevents

Security-by-design principles explicitly call for data validation and sanitization at every layer, reducing the chance that malformed or malicious input will be processed without scrutiny.

prevents

Requiring language-specific secure coding standards, peer review, SAST and documented mitigation of common programming errors forces validation of all inputs before they are trusted.

none

Change management ensures controlled deployment of fixes for discovered heap-overflow vulnerabilities.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230265 RHEL 8 must prevent the installation of software, patches, service packs, device drivers, or operating system components of local packages without verification they have been digitally signed using a certificate that is issued by a Certificate Authority (CA) that is recognized and approved by the organization. prevents CWE-20

References