OFFIS DCMTK 3.7.0 Huffman decoder extend_test/extend_offset out-of-bounds

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability described as critical has been identified in OFFIS DCMTK 3.7.0. Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality of the component Huffman decoder. The manipulation of the argument extend_test/extend_offset results in out-of-bounds. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-44038. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. No exploit is available. It is best practice to apply a patch to resolve this issue.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in OFFIS DCMTK 3.7.0. Affected is an unknown code block of the component Huffman decoder. The manipulation of the argument extend_test/extend_offset 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:

A global out-of-bounds read in the Huffman decoder of the bundled IJG JPEG libraries (dcmjpeg/libijg8, libijg12 and libijg16) of OFFIS DCMTK 3.7.0 allows an attacker to read memory beyond the extend_test[] and extend_offset[] tables, causing incorrectly decoded pixel data or a crash, via a DICOM file with a crafted JPEG stream whose Huffman table defines a difference category above 15. Huffman symbol values are not range-checked unless DCMTK is built with DCMTK_ENABLE_STRICT_HUFFMAN_TABLE_CHECK, which is disabled by default. dcmdjpeg and any application that decompresses JPEG DICOM images with DCMTK are affected. The issue is fixed in commit d6ae1bc8d5b9ae9c7300013c8c85cc2ea0fd8cf5.

The advisory is available at support.dcmtk.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-44038 since 05/05/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. Successful exploitation requires user interaction by the victim. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit.

Applying the patch d6ae1bc8d5b9ae9c7300013c8c85cc2ea0fd8cf5 is able to eliminate this problem.

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Productinfo

Vendor

• OFFIS

Name

• DCMTK

Version

• 3.7.0

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒

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