CVE-2018-18443 in OpenEXR
Summary
by MITRE
OpenEXR 2.3.0 has a memory leak in ThreadPool in IlmBase/IlmThread/IlmThreadPool.cpp, as demonstrated by exrmultiview.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/30/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-18443 represents a critical memory management flaw within the OpenEXR image processing library version 2.3.0. This issue specifically affects the ThreadPool implementation in the IlmBase component, which is a fundamental building block for concurrent processing operations within the library. The memory leak occurs during the execution of multi-view image processing operations, as demonstrated through the exrmultiview utility. The flaw manifests when the ThreadPool component fails to properly release allocated memory resources after completing thread pool operations, leading to gradual memory consumption that can eventually exhaust available system resources.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability lies in improper memory deallocation within the ThreadPool class implementation. When the exrmultiview utility processes multi-view image files, it utilizes the ThreadPool functionality to manage concurrent operations across multiple threads. The flaw occurs during the thread pool lifecycle management where allocated memory structures for thread management are not correctly freed, creating a memory leak that accumulates over time. This type of vulnerability is classified as a memory leak under CWE-401, which specifically addresses the failure to release memory resources, and represents a common pattern in concurrent programming where resource cleanup is not properly synchronized with resource allocation.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple performance degradation to potentially catastrophic system failures in environments where OpenEXR is heavily utilized. When applications repeatedly process multi-view image files through the exrmultiview utility or other components that leverage the ThreadPool functionality, the memory leak progressively consumes available system memory. This can lead to application crashes, system instability, and in severe cases, complete system resource exhaustion that affects other running processes. The vulnerability is particularly concerning in server environments or production systems where continuous image processing operations occur, as the memory consumption can escalate rapidly and become undetectable until system performance degrades significantly.
Security implications of this memory leak vulnerability align with ATT&CK technique T1499.001, which covers resource exhaustion attacks through memory consumption. The vulnerability can be exploited by adversaries who intentionally submit multiple multi-view image processing requests to exhaust system memory resources, potentially leading to denial of service conditions. Additionally, this vulnerability can be leveraged as part of broader attack chains where attackers first establish memory exhaustion conditions that may obscure other malicious activities or create opportunities for privilege escalation. Organizations using OpenEXR in their image processing pipelines should consider this vulnerability as a potential attack vector that could be exploited for service disruption or as part of more sophisticated attack strategies targeting system stability and availability.
The recommended mitigation strategy involves upgrading to a patched version of OpenEXR that addresses the memory leak in the ThreadPool implementation. Users should also implement monitoring mechanisms to detect unusual memory consumption patterns in applications that utilize the exrmultiview utility or other components that rely on the affected ThreadPool functionality. Temporary workarounds may include limiting the number of concurrent multi-view image processing operations or implementing memory usage limits for processes that utilize OpenEXR libraries. System administrators should also consider implementing automated alerting for memory consumption thresholds that could indicate the presence of this vulnerability in production environments where OpenEXR is deployed.