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OpenexrApplication

CVE-2025-12495

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2025-12-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.4.3 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
Academy Software Foundation OpenEXR EXR File Parsing Heap-based Buffer Overflow Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of Academy Software Foundation OpenEXR. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file. The specific flaw exists within the parsing of EXR files. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of the length of user-supplied data prior to copying it to a heap-based buffer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of the current process. Was ZDI-CAN-27946.

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

A heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in Academy Software Foundation OpenEXR during EXR file parsing. The flaw results from insufficient validation of user-supplied data length before copying to a heap buffer, allowing an attacker to overflow the buffer and execute arbitrary code via a malicious EXR file requiring user interaction.

MitigationUpdate OpenEXR to the latest version containing the security patch. As a defensive measure, implement validation of chunk/attribute sizes and use safe memory copy functions with explicit bounds checking before copying user-controlled data.

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
OpenexrApplication
Affected:< 3.4.3

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:3.0/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. Check if OpenEXR is installed
    Run 'dpkg -l | grep openexr' (Debian/Ubuntu), 'rpm -qa | grep -i openexr' (RHEL/CentOS), or check for the library file (e.g., libOpenEXR.so) in common locations like /usr/lib/
    Affected if OpenEXR is not found on the system, the vulnerability does not apply
  2. Identify the installed OpenEXR version
    Run 'openexrversion' if available, or check the package manager: 'dpkg -s libopenexr-dev' (Debian), 'rpm -qi OpenEXR' (RHEL), or inspect the shared library version with 'strings /usr/lib/libOpenEXR.so | grep -i version'
    Affected if The installed version is less than 3.4.3 (e.g., 3.4.0, 3.3.0, etc.)
  3. Verify the EXR parsing functionality is in use
    Search for applications or tools that process EXR files (e.g., imagemagick, renderers, graphics software) by checking installed packages with 'dpkg -l' or 'rpm -qa' and reviewing application dependencies
    Affected if Software linked against OpenEXR libraries is present and can process untrusted EXR files

If OpenEXR version is below 3.4.3 and applications can parse user-supplied EXR files, the system is vulnerable to heap-based buffer overflow via malicious EXR input.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 3.4.3 or later
Fixed in 3.4.3
Interim mitigation

Update OpenEXR to the latest version containing the security patch. As a defensive measure, implement validation of chunk/attribute sizes and use safe memory copy functions with explicit bounds checking before copying user-controlled data.

Recommended fix High confidence

OpenEXR 3.4.3 or later

  1. Identify all systems, applications, and containers that use OpenEXR library for EXR file processing
  2. Check current OpenEXR version on each affected system (e.g., dpkg -l | grep openexr, rpm -qa | grep openexr, or library inspection)
  3. Upgrade OpenEXR to version 3.4.3 or later using your package manager (e.g., apt-get install libopenexr-dev, yum update openexr, or download from https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/openexr/releases)
  4. For projects linking against OpenEXR statically, rebuild them after upgrading to ensure they use the fixed library version
  5. Verify the upgrade was successful by confirming the new version is 3.4.3 or higher
  6. Test critical EXR file parsing workflows to ensure functionality is maintained
Caveat Minor library upgrades are typically backward compatible; however, any statically-linked applications will need recompilation to pick up the fixed library

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Openexr Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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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-2025-12495 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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