VideoLAN VLC Media Player up to 3.0.23 Picture Buffer Allocation src/misc/picture.c AllocatePicture integer overflow

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in VideoLAN VLC Media Player up to 3.0.23. It has been classified as critical. This impacts the function AllocatePicture of the file src/misc/picture.c of the component Picture Buffer Allocation. This manipulation causes integer overflow. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-56711. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. No exploit exists.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in VideoLAN VLC Media Player up to 3.0.23. Affected by this vulnerability is the function AllocatePicture of the file src/misc/picture.c of the component Picture Buffer Allocation. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a integer overflow vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-190. The product performs a calculation that can produce an integer overflow or wraparound, when the logic assumes that the resulting value will always be larger than the original value. This can introduce other weaknesses when the calculation is used for resource management or execution control. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

VLC media player computes the size of a picture buffer with 32-bit arithmetic and allocates from the wrapped result. In AllocatePicture in src/misc/picture.c the running total is accumulated as i_bytes += p->i_pitch * p->i_lines, and both plane_t fields are declared int in include/vlc_picture.h, so the multiplication is evaluated at 32 bits and wraps before it is widened to the size_t accumulator. The overflow check that precedes it divides in 64-bit arithmetic and therefore does not constrain the product, and the subsequent comparison against PICTURE_SW_SIZE_MAX examines the already wrapped value, so both guards pass. aligned_alloc then reserves the small wrapped size while the decoder writes scanlines sized from the original dimensions. A crafted PNG whose IHDR declares large width and height reaches this path through the image demuxer, whose only size guard is on the input file's byte count rather than the declared dimensions, and the decoder in modules/codec/png.c writes past the end of the allocation with attacker-influenced length and content. Opening the file directly or through a playlist entry is sufficient, with no non-default settings.

It is possible to read the advisory at github.com. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-56711 since 06/22/2026. 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 pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/09/2026).

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

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Productinfo

Type

• Multimedia Player Software

Vendor

• VideoLAN

Name

• VLC Media Player

Version

• 3.0.0
• 3.0.1
• 3.0.2
• 3.0.3
• 3.0.4
• 3.0.5
• 3.0.6
• 3.0.7
• 3.0.8
• 3.0.9
• 3.0.10
• 3.0.11
• 3.0.12
• 3.0.13
• 3.0.14
• 3.0.15
• 3.0.16
• 3.0.17
• 3.0.18
• 3.0.19
• 3.0.20
• 3.0.21
• 3.0.22
• 3.0.23

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.videolan.org/

CPE 2.3info

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