Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-3147

Memory Safety in Libvips ≤ 8.18.0

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
25 February 2026
Modified
25 February 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v4 4.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P/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 0.0021 11th percentile
Risk Priority 25 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-3147 is a medium-severity Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer (CWE-119) vulnerability in Libvips Libvips. Its CVSS base score is 4.8 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 11th 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-2026-3147 is a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in libvips versions up to 8.18.0, specifically affecting the vips_foreign_load_csv_build function in the file libvips/foreign/csvload.c. This flaw arises from improper bounds checking during CSV file processing, leading to potential memory corruption when loading malformed CSV inputs.

The vulnerability requires local access (AV:L) with low privileges (PR:L) and low attack complexity (AC:L), needing no user interaction (UI:N). A local attacker could exploit it by providing a specially crafted CSV file to a libvips-based application, triggering the buffer overflow and achieving low-impact confidentiality, integrity, and availability effects (C:L/I:L/A:L), as scored at CVSS 5.3 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L). The exploit is publicly available and could be used in targeted scenarios.

Mitigation is available via the patch commit b3ab458a25e0e261cbd1788474bbc763f7435780 in the libvips repository. Security practitioners should update to a patched version of libvips beyond 8.18.0 and review applications using the CSV loader for exposure. Related GitHub issues (#4874) and pull request (#4894) provide further details on the fix.

An exploit for this vulnerability has been made public, increasing the risk for unpatched systems, though no widespread real-world exploitation has been reported in available data.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A vulnerability was found in libvips up to 8.18.0. This affects the function vips_foreign_load_csv_build of the file libvips/foreign/csvload.c. The manipulation results in heap-based buffer overflow. The attack requires a local approach. The exploit has been made public and could be…

more

used. The patch is identified as b3ab458a25e0e261cbd1788474bbc763f7435780. It is advisable to implement a patch to correct this issue.

CWE(s)
CWE-119CWE-122

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.
attack.mitre.org →
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.
attack.mitre.org →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1055 Process Injection Stealth
Adversaries may inject code into processes in order to evade process-based defenses as well as possibly elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-3281Same product: Libvips Libvips
CVE-2026-2913Same product: Libvips Libvips
CVE-2026-3145Same product: Libvips Libvips
CVE-2026-3283Same product: Libvips Libvips
CVE-2026-3282Same product: Libvips Libvips
CVE-2025-29769Same product: Libvips Libvips
CVE-2026-15506Shared CWE-119, CWE-122
CVE-2025-7069Shared CWE-119, CWE-122
CVE-2025-11010Shared CWE-119, CWE-122
CVE-2025-6120Shared CWE-119, CWE-122

Affected Assets

libvips
libvips
≤ 8.18.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V17.3.2
  • V1.4.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation (including fuzzing and memory-error detectors) can discover heap overflows after they have been coded.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

Input validation enforces bounds checking on data written to heap buffers, directly stopping the overflow condition from being introduced.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Secure engineering principles require memory-safe design and coding that structurally avoids buffer-boundary violations.

SI-16 Memory Protection partial match

Memory protection restricts exploitation impact of buffer overflows without eliminating the underlying coding flaw.

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 code analysis directly surface buffer-boundary flaws.

ID.RA-08 partial match
prevents

Receiving and triaging vulnerability disclosures commonly includes buffer-related reports.

PR.AT-02 partial match
prevents

Developer training on secure coding reduces introduction of memory-buffer errors.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching replaces vulnerable code containing buffer-boundary defects.

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.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development catches out-of-bounds accesses before release, covering most instances of the weakness.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates memory-safety practices that directly prevent buffer-boundary violations.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify memory-safety rules, but do not prescribe implementation details.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture and engineering principles include memory-safe design patterns that mitigate buffer overflows.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe buffer operations, directly eliminating CWE-119.

A.8.32 Change management none match
none

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

References