Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-3281

Memory Safety in Libvips 8.19.0

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
27 February 2026
Modified
02 March 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 0.0024 16th percentile
Risk Priority 25 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-3281 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 16th 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-2026-3281 is a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in the vips_bandrank_build function within the file libvips/conversion/bandrank.c of the libvips image processing library version 8.19.0. The issue arises from improper handling of the 'index' argument, leading to a buffer overflow condition associated with CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer) and CWE-122 (Heap-based Buffer Overflow). The vulnerability was published on 2026-02-27 and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.3 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L), indicating medium severity.

Exploitation requires a local attacker with low privileges to manipulate the affected argument, enabling a heap-based buffer overflow. Successful exploitation could result in limited impacts to confidentiality, integrity, and availability, such as partial data disclosure, modification of heap memory, or denial of service through crashes. The attack vector is local-only with low complexity and no user interaction needed.

Mitigation is available via a specific patch commit fd28c5463697712cb0ab116a2c55e4f4d92c4088 in the libvips repository, and users are advised to apply it promptly. Related GitHub resources include the libvips repository, the patch commit, issue #4878, a comment on that issue, and pull request #4895. Notably, a public exploit exists and may be actively used.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A vulnerability was detected in libvips 8.19.0. This affects the function vips_bandrank_build of the file libvips/conversion/bandrank.c. Performing a manipulation of the argument index results in heap-based buffer overflow. The attack must be initiated from a local position. The exploit is…

more

now public and may be used. The patch is named fd28c5463697712cb0ab116a2c55e4f4d92c4088. It is suggested to install a patch to address 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-2026-2913Same product: Libvips Libvips
CVE-2026-3147Same 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
8.19.0

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