Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-27596

Memory Safety in Exiv2 ≤ 0.28.8

Published
02 March 2026
Modified
05 March 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 2.7
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0037 29th percentile
Risk Priority 33 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2026-27596 is a low-severity Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125) vulnerability in Exiv2 Exiv2. Its CVSS base score is 2.7 (Low).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 29th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — 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-2026-27596 is an out-of-bounds read vulnerability (CWE-125, CWE-191) in the preview component of Exiv2, a C++ library and command-line utility for reading, writing, deleting, and modifying Exif, IPTC, XMP, and ICC image metadata. The flaw affects Exiv2 versions prior to 0.28.8 and manifests as a read operation at a 4GB offset, which typically results in a crash.

The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H), indicating it is exploitable over a network with low complexity, no privileges, and no user interaction. Attackers can trigger it by supplying a malicious image file to a target system running the Exiv2 command-line utility with a specific argument such as -pp, achieving denial-of-service through application termination.

Exiv2 developers patched the issue in version 0.28.8. Official references include the fixing commit at https://github.com/Exiv2/exiv2/commit/eaa9e21aabe06b3f91cfe66686f5ebc3ca3c0ed4, the issue report at https://github.com/Exiv2/exiv2/issues/3511, the pull request at https://github.com/Exiv2/exiv2/pull/3512, and the security advisory at https://github.com/Exiv2/exiv2/security/advisories/GHSA-3wgv-fg4w-75x7.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Exiv2 is a C++ library and a command-line utility to read, write, delete and modify Exif, IPTC, XMP and ICC image metadata. Prior to version 0.28.8, an out-of-bounds read was found in Exiv2. The vulnerability is in the preview component,…

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which is only triggered when running Exiv2 with an extra command line argument, like -pp. The out-of-bounds read is at a 4GB offset, which usually causes Exiv2 to crash. This issue has been patched in version 0.28.8.

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.
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
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-2026-25884Same product: Exiv2 Exiv2
CVE-2025-54080Same product: Exiv2 Exiv2
CVE-2024-39695Same product: Exiv2 Exiv2
CVE-2024-24826Same product: Exiv2 Exiv2
CVE-2025-65092Shared CWE-125, CWE-191
CVE-2026-66033Shared CWE-125, CWE-191
CVE-2023-38427Shared CWE-125, CWE-191
CVE-2026-22185Shared CWE-125, CWE-191
CVE-2024-49103Shared CWE-125, CWE-191
CVE-2026-54413Shared CWE-125, CWE-191

Affected Assets

exiv2
exiv2
≤ 0.28.8

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation directly finds out-of-bounds read flaws through static analysis, fuzzing, and dynamic bounds checks.

Secure engineering principles require bounds checking and memory-safe constructs that stop out-of-bounds reads from being introduced.

Process isolation confines the effects of an out-of-bounds read to the compromised process.

Input validation rejects malformed indices or lengths that would otherwise cause reads outside buffer bounds.

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 SDLC practices directly prevent integer underflow defects via input validation, bounds checking, and static analysis.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover instances of out-of-bounds reads after code is deployed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching replaces vulnerable code containing out-of-bounds read flaws.

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

Security testing in development and acceptance includes fuzzing and static analysis that detect out-of-bounds read defects before release.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Logging can record evidence of an out-of-bounds read but does not prevent the weakness itself.

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates input validation and bounds checking that directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

prevents

Application security requirements include explicit bounds and memory-safety specifications that mitigate buffer over-reads.

prevents

Secure system architecture and engineering principles require memory-safe design patterns and runtime protections against out-of-bounds access.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe pointer arithmetic and mandate bounds-checked reads, eliminating CWE-125.

References