Out-of-bounds WriteWeakness · CWE-787

CVE-2025-11680

MEDIUM · 5.9 CVSS v4.0 Published 2025-10-20
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
66/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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
Out-of-bounds Write in unfilter_scanline in warmcat libwebsockets allows, when the LWS_WITH_UPNG flag is enabled during compilation and the HTML display stack is used, to write past a heap allocated buffer possibly causing a crash, when the user visits an attacker controlled website that contains a crafted PNG file with a big width value that causes an integer overflow which value is used for determining the size of a heap allocation.

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

Out-of-bounds write vulnerability in libwebsockets' unfilter_scanline function when compiled with LWS_WITH_UPNG enabled. A crafted PNG with an oversized width value triggers an integer overflow during heap allocation size calculation, resulting in a smaller buffer than required. Subsequent writes in unfilter_scanline then overflow the heap buffer, potentially causing a crash.

MitigationDisable LWS_WITH_UPNG if PNG rendering is not required, otherwise apply vendor patch which should add proper validation of PNG dimensions before allocation to prevent the integer overflow.

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

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
High
Privileges
None
Authentication
X
User interaction
A
Scope
X

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

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. Verify libwebsockets version
    Run 'libwebsockets-test-server --version' or check the library file version with 'strings libwebsockets.so | grep -i version' or check package manager
    Affected if Installed version falls within the vulnerable range and has not been patched
  2. Confirm LWS_WITH_UPNG compile-time option is enabled
    Check build configuration files, CMakeLists.txt for 'LWS_WITH_UPNG' set to ON, or inspect binary with 'strings binary | grep -i upng'; also check if the libwebsockets-test-png or png-related test binaries exist
    Affected if LWS_WITH_UPNG is compiled into the binary (the vulnerability only triggers when this option is enabled)
  3. Identify if PNG rendering is actively used
    Review application configuration for PNG decoding/display settings, check for any lws_protocol_plugins loading png-related protocols, or examine runtime logs for PNG initialization messages
    Affected if The application uses libwebsockets for PNG rendering or has png-related functionality loaded
  4. Check for anomalous behavior or crashes
    Review system crash logs, application error logs, and memory dump files for heap overflow indicators occurring during PNG processing
    Affected if Crashes or memory corruption events are logged during PNG handling operations

User is affected only if the libwebsockets version is vulnerable, LWS_WITH_UPNG was compiled enabled, and the application actively processes PNG files with the affected code path.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Disable LWS_WITH_UPNG if PNG rendering is not required, otherwise apply vendor patch which should add proper validation of PNG dimensions before allocation to prevent the integer overflow.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2025-11680 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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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