CVE-2026-21686
Published: 07 January 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-21686 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 27.2th 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 are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2026-21686 is an Undefined Behavior vulnerability in the `CIccTagLutAtoB::Validate()` function within the iccDEV library, affecting versions prior to 2.3.1.2. The iccDEV library provides tools and libraries for interacting with, manipulating, and applying International Color Consortium (ICC) color management profiles. This flaw impacts users of the iccDEV library who process ICC color profiles and is associated with CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation) and CWE-758 (Reliance on Undefined, Unspecified, or Implementation-Defined Behavior).
The vulnerability carries 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). A remote attacker requires no privileges and can exploit it with low attack complexity by tricking a user into processing a specially crafted ICC color profile, such as via user interaction like opening a malicious file. Successful exploitation can result in high availability impact, such as application crashes or denial of service, low integrity impact, and no confidentiality loss.
Version 2.3.1.2 of iccDEV includes a patch addressing this issue, with no known workarounds available. Mitigation details and the fix are documented in the project's GitHub repository, including issue #214, pull request #222, and security advisory GHSA-792q-cqq9-mq4x.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-1392
Vulnerability details
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 Undefined Behavior in `CIccTagLutAtoB::Validate()`. This vulnerability affects users of the iccDEV…
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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 TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Malicious ICC profile file requires user execution (T1204.002) to trigger UB/crash; enables application DoS via exploitation (T1499.004).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly enforces validation of ICC color profile inputs to CIccTagLutAtoB::Validate(), blocking the malformed data that triggers CWE-20 undefined behavior.
Requires timely application of the version 2.3.1.2 patch that corrects the undefined-behavior flaw in the library's validation routine.
Enables integrity verification of both the iccDEV library binary and incoming ICC profiles to detect tampering or corruption that could exploit the flaw.