Image ViewerApplication · Faststone

CVE-2021-26235

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-03-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 7.5 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

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
FastStone Image Viewer <= 7.5 is affected by a user mode write access violation near NULL at 0x005bdfc9, triggered when a user opens or views a malformed CUR file that is mishandled by FSViewer.exe. Attackers could exploit this issue for a Denial of Service (DoS) or possibly to achieve code execution.

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

FastStone Image Viewer <= 7.5 contains a user-mode write access violation vulnerability when parsing malformed CUR (Windows cursor) files. The software writes to an invalid memory location near NULL (0x005bdfc9) due to insufficient bounds checking or validation during CUR file parsing in FSViewer.exe, allowing attackers to cause a denial of service or potentially achieve code execution.

MitigationAvoid opening untrusted or malformed CUR files with FastStone Image Viewer until a patched version is available. Upgrade to a version newer than 7.5 when released.

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
Image ViewerApplication
Affected:<= 7.5

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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 checks

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

  1. Identify installed FastStone Image Viewer version
    Open FastStone Image Viewer, go to Help > About, or right-click FSViewer.exe and select Properties > Details to view the version number
    Affected if The displayed version is 7.5 or any version lower than 7.5
  2. Locate the FSViewer.exe executable
    Search for FSViewer.exe in the program installation directory (commonly C:\Program Files\FastStone Image Viewer or C:\Program Files (x86)\FastStone Image Viewer)
    Affected if FSViewer.exe exists and is the executable handling CUR file parsing
  3. Verify the file version of FSViewer.exe
    Right-click FSViewer.exe > Properties > Details > File Version to confirm the exact build number
    Affected if File version shows 7.5 or lower, confirming the vulnerable executable is in use
  4. Check if CUR file association is configured
    Look for .cur file associations in Windows: go to Control Panel > Default Programs > Set Associations, or attempt to open a CUR file with FastStone Image Viewer to see if the software is registered to handle such files
    Affected if FastStone Image Viewer is set as the default or available handler for .cur files, making the vulnerable parsing code reachable

If FastStone Image Viewer version is 7.5 or lower and FSViewer.exe processes CUR files, the environment is affected by this vulnerability.

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 7.5
Interim mitigation

Avoid opening untrusted or malformed CUR files with FastStone Image Viewer until a patched version is available. Upgrade to a version newer than 7.5 when released.

Fix this in Image Viewer Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
17.0 hours of engineering $3,000
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2021-26235 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