strukturag libheif up to 1.21.x AVIF File get_num_samples out-of-bounds

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in strukturag libheif up to 1.21.x. It has been declared as critical. This vulnerability affects the function get_num_samples of the component AVIF File Handler. The manipulation results in out-of-bounds. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-41071. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. No exploit is available. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in strukturag libheif up to 1.21.x. It has been classified as critical. Affected is the function get_num_samples of the component AVIF File Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a out-of-bounds vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-125. The product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

libheif is a HEIF and AVIF file format decoder and encoder. In versions 1.21.2 and prior, a crafted HEIF sequence file where the saiz box declares more samples than actually exist in the track's chunk table causes a heap-buffer-overflow (out-of-bounds read) in the SampleAuxInfoReader constructor. The SampleAuxInfoReader constructor iterates over saiz->get_num_samples() samples but doesn't validate that this count is consistent with the number of chunks in the chunks vector. When saiz declares more samples than the chunks cover, the loop increments current_chunk past chunks.size(), causing an out-of-bounds read on the chunks vector. The vulnerability is triggered during file parsing (heif_context_read_from_file) without any additional user interaction. Any application using libheif to open untrusted HEIF files is affected. This issue has been fixed in version 1.22.0.

The advisory is shared for download at github.com. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-41071 since 04/16/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. The exploitation doesn't require any form of authentication. Successful exploitation requires user interaction by the victim. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 316592 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-41071), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 1.22.0 eliminates this vulnerability. The upgrade is hosted for download at github.com.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (316592). VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Productinfo

Vendor

• strukturag

Name

• libheif

Version

• 1.0
• 1.1
• 1.2
• 1.3
• 1.4
• 1.5
• 1.6
• 1.7
• 1.8
• 1.9
• 1.10
• 1.11
• 1.12
• 1.13
• 1.14
• 1.15
• 1.16
• 1.17
• 1.18
• 1.19
• 1.20
• 1.21

Website

• Product: https://github.com/strukturag/libheif/

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VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

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