Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2026-21688 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 Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); 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-2026-21688 is a Type Confusion vulnerability in the iccDEV library, located in the `SIccCalcOp::ArgsPushed()` function at `IccProfLib/IccMpeCalc.cpp`. The iccDEV library offers tools and libraries for interacting with, manipulating, and applying International Color Consortium (ICC) color management profiles. Versions prior to 2.3.1.2 are affected, impacting any users or applications that process ICC color profiles with the library. The vulnerability was published on 2026-01-07 and is associated with CWEs-20 (Improper Input Validation), CWE-190 (Integer Overflow or Wraparound), CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference), and CWE-681 (Incorrect Conversion between Numeric Types).
Attackers can exploit this vulnerability remotely (AV:N) with low attack complexity (AC:L), requiring no privileges (PR:N) but user interaction (UI:R), such as tricking a user into processing a malicious ICC profile. The unchanged scope (S:U) and high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H) yield a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8, potentially enabling arbitrary code execution or system compromise on affected systems.
The issue is addressed in iccDEV version 2.3.1.2, which contains the patch. No known workarounds exist. Details are available in the GitHub security advisory at GHSA-3r2x-j7v3-pg6f, issue #379, and pull request #422 in the InternationalColorConsortium/iccDEV repository.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-1390
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 Type Confusion vulnerability in `SIccCalcOp::ArgsPushed()` at `IccProfLib/IccMpeCalc.cpp`. This vulnerability affects…
more
users of the iccDEV 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
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 6 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
V5.2.6
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.
Secure engineering principles require use of safe arithmetic constructs or language features that structurally eliminate integer overflow during calculation.
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.
Secure SDLC practices directly require and enforce input validation during development.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Regular automated validation of system software and data content, combined with scanning of all inbound files, enforces input validation at the boundary before untrusted content is processed.
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