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IrfanviewApplication

CVE-2012-5904

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2012-11-17
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 4.32 or later.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Heap-based buffer overflow in IrfanView before 4.33 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted RLE compressed bitmap file such as a DIB, RLE, or BMP image.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Heap-based buffer overflow in IrfanView versions prior to 4.33 when parsing RLE compressed bitmap files (including DIB, RLE, and BMP formats). The vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by providing a specially crafted malformed image file.

MitigationUpgrade IrfanView to version 4.33 or later. Until then, avoid opening untrusted RLE compressed bitmap files from unknown or untrusted sources.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
IrfanviewApplication
Affected:<= 4.32= 1.70= 1.80= 1.85= 1.90= 1.95= 1.97= 1.98= 1.98a= 1.99= 2.00= 2.05

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed IrfanView version
    Open IrfanView and go to Help > About, or right-click the irfanview.exe file and select Properties > Details to view the version number
    Affected if Version is 4.32 or lower, or matches any of these: 1.70, 1.80, 1.85, 1.90, 1.95, 1.97, 1.98, 1.98a, 1.99, 2.00, 2.05
  2. Confirm RLE/BMP format support is active
    Check that the BMP format plugin (bmp.dll) is present in the IrfanView Plugins folder and that IrfanView can open .bmp, .dib, or .rle files - try opening a test RLE-compressed bitmap file
    Affected if RLE compressed bitmap support is enabled and the application can parse these formats
  3. Review recent BMP/RLE file openings
    Check Windows Event Viewer or recent documents for any recently opened .bmp, .dib, or .rle files from untrusted sources
    Affected if A malformed RLE-compressed bitmap file from an untrusted source has been opened in IrfanView

IrfanView is affected if version 4.32 or lower (or matching specific older versions 1.70 through 2.05) is installed and the application has been used to open RLE-compressed bitmap files from untrusted sources.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 4.32
Interim mitigation

Upgrade IrfanView to version 4.33 or later. Until then, avoid opening untrusted RLE compressed bitmap files from unknown or untrusted sources.

Fix this in Irfanview Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,424.

Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2012-5904 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data