OFFIS DCMTK 3.7.0 dcmdata read recursion

CVSS Meta Temp Score
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CTI Interest Score
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6.3$0-$5k2.24-

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in OFFIS DCMTK 3.7.0. It has been classified as problematic. This affects the function DcmSequenceOfItems::read/DcmItem::read of the component dcmdata. This manipulation causes recursion. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-44031. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. No exploit exists. Applying a patch is the recommended action to fix this issue.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in OFFIS DCMTK 3.7.0. It has been declared as problematic. Affected by this vulnerability is the function DcmSequenceOfItems::read/DcmItem::read of the component dcmdata. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a recursion vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-674. The product does not properly control the amount of recursion that takes place, consuming excessive resources, such as allocated memory or the program stack. As an impact it is known to affect availability. The summary by CVE is:

Uncontrolled recursion in DcmSequenceOfItems::read() and DcmItem::read() in the dcmdata library of OFFIS DCMTK 3.7.0 allows a remote, unauthenticated attacker to cause a denial of service (stack exhaustion and process crash) via a DICOM dataset containing deeply nested sequences (SQ elements). The dataset can be sent in a C-STORE request to storescp, dcmrecv, dcmqrscp, or any other DICOM service built on DCMTK, because the received dataset is parsed before any authentication takes place. Local tools such as dcmdump also crash when opening such a file. The issue is fixed in commit 885ff0f10372bd589b5f44cea974f28a3964cb0f, which adds a configurable sequence nesting depth limit (default 64).

The advisory is shared at support.dcmtk.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-44031 since 05/05/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be launched remotely. The exploitation doesn't need any form of authentication. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1499 for this issue.

Applying the patch 885ff0f10372bd589b5f44cea974f28a3964cb0f is able to eliminate this problem.

If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Productinfo

Vendor

Name

Version

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CNA CVSS-B Score: 🔒
CNA CVSS-BT Score: 🔒
CNA Vector: 🔒

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 6.4
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 6.3

VulDB Base Score: 5.3
VulDB Temp Score: 5.1
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CNA Base Score: 7.5
CNA Vector (securin): 🔒

CVSSv2info

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VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Recursion
CWE: CWE-674 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

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Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Patch
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Patch: 885ff0f10372bd589b5f44cea974f28a3964cb0f

Timelineinfo

05/05/2026 CVE reserved
10/08/2026 +156 days Advisory disclosed
10/08/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
10/08/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Advisory: support.dcmtk.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-44031 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-44031
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-415357

Entryinfo

Created: 10/08/2026 15:13
Changes: 10/08/2026 15:13 (76)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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