libpng up to 1.6.50 png_do_quantize heap-based overflow

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in libpng up to 1.6.50. The impacted element is the function png_do_quantize. This manipulation causes heap-based overflow. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2025-64505. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. No exploit exists. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in libpng up to 1.6.50. Affected by this vulnerability is the function png_do_quantize. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a heap-based overflow vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-122. A heap overflow condition is a buffer overflow, where the buffer that can be overwritten is allocated in the heap portion of memory, generally meaning that the buffer was allocated using a routine such as malloc(). As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

LIBPNG is a reference library for use in applications that read, create, and manipulate PNG (Portable Network Graphics) raster image files. Prior to version 1.6.51, a heap buffer over-read vulnerability exists in libpng's png_do_quantize function when processing PNG files with malformed palette indices. The vulnerability occurs when palette_lookup array bounds are not validated against externally-supplied image data, allowing an attacker to craft a PNG file with out-of-range palette indices that trigger out-of-bounds memory access. This issue has been patched in version 1.6.51.

It is possible to read the advisory at seclists.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2025-64505. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be launched remotely. The exploitation doesn't need any form of authentication. It demands that the victim is doing some kind of user interaction. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 276644 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-64505), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 1.6.51 eliminates this vulnerability. The upgrade is hosted for download at github.com.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at CNNVD (CNNVD-202511-2690), Tenable (276644), EUVD (EUVD-2025-199239) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2663). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Fedora Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• Gentoo Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Open Source libpng
• Open Source GitLab
• Meinberg LANTIME

Productinfo

Type

• Image Processing Software

Name

• libpng

Version

• 1.6.0
• 1.6.1
• 1.6.2
• 1.6.3
• 1.6.4
• 1.6.5
• 1.6.6
• 1.6.7
• 1.6.8
• 1.6.9
• 1.6.10
• 1.6.11
• 1.6.12
• 1.6.13
• 1.6.14
• 1.6.15
• 1.6.16
• 1.6.17
• 1.6.18
• 1.6.19
• 1.6.20
• 1.6.21
• 1.6.22
• 1.6.23
• 1.6.24
• 1.6.25
• 1.6.26
• 1.6.27
• 1.6.28
• 1.6.29
• 1.6.30
• 1.6.31
• 1.6.32
• 1.6.33
• 1.6.34
• 1.6.35
• 1.6.36
• 1.6.37
• 1.6.38
• 1.6.39
• 1.6.40
• 1.6.41
• 1.6.42
• 1.6.43
• 1.6.44
• 1.6.45
• 1.6.46
• 1.6.47
• 1.6.48
• 1.6.49
• 1.6.50

License

• open-source

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

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