CVE-2020-23553
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 · uneditedIrfanView 4.54 allows a user-mode write access violation starting at FORMATS!GetPlugInInfo+0x0000000000007d33.
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 · moderate confidenceIrfanView 4.54 contains a user-mode write access vulnerability in the FORMATS plugin (GetPlugInInfo function). This allows a specially crafted image file to trigger an out-of-bounds write condition, potentially enabling arbitrary code execution or denial of service. The vulnerability is triggered when processing malformed image files through the plugin interface.
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= 4.54CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed IrfanView versionOpen IrfanView and go to Help > About, or right-click the executable and view Properties > Details to see the version numberAffected if Version is exactly 4.54
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Locate the FORMATS pluginNavigate to the IrfanView installation directory and look for a file named formats.dll or similar plugin files in a 'plugins' subfolderAffected if The FORMATS plugin DLL exists in the IrfanView plugins directory
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Verify plugin is loadedOpen an image file in IrfanView and check if the application processes it through the plugin interface; the vulnerability triggers when processing images through the pluginAffected if Images are being processed and the plugin is active
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Check for recent image processing activityReview recent file open history or manually open a malformed image file to test the vulnerability; the flaw triggers when processing specially crafted imagesAffected if Untrusted or malformed image files have been opened recently
You are affected if you are running IrfanView version 4.54 and have the FORMATS plugin enabled while processing image files, particularly from untrusted sources.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpgrade IrfanView to the latest version if a patch is available. As an interim measure, disable or restrict the FORMATS plugin for untrusted file sources and avoid opening images from untrusted or unknown origins.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-23553 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-23553 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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
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