GStreamer PNG File Parser heap-based overflow

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as critical has been reported in GStreamer. Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality of the component PNG File Parser. This manipulation causes heap-based overflow. This vulnerability is registered as CVE-2026-18298. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. No exploit is available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in GStreamer (the affected version is unknown) and classified as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown code of the component PNG File Parser. 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:

GStreamer PNG File Parsing Heap-based Buffer Overflow Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of GStreamer. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file. The specific flaw exists within the parsing of PNG files. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of the length of user-supplied data prior to copying it to a heap-based buffer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of the current process. Was ZDI-CAN-29581.

This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-18298. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be launched remotely. The exploitation doesn't need any form of authentication. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/06/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 339182 (RHEL 9 : gstreamer1-plugins-good (RHSA-2026:59152)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (339182). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Multimedia Processing Software

Name

• GStreamer

License

• open-source

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒

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Entryinfo

Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

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