CVE-2025-29070
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 · uneditedA heap buffer overflow vulnerability has been identified in thesmooth2() in cmsgamma.c in lcms2-2.16 which allows a remote attacker to cause a denial of service. NOTE: the Supplier disputes this because "this is not exploitable as this function is never called on normal color management, is there only as a helper for low-level programming and investigation."
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 confidenceHeap buffer overflow vulnerability in the smooth2() function in cmsgamma.c of lcms2-2.16 library. The overflow occurs on the heap, allowing a remote attacker to potentially cause denial of service through crafted input to this color management function.
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
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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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Identify installed lcms2 library versionRun 'pkg-config --modversion lcms2' or check package manager (dpkg -l | grep liblcms2, rpm -q lcms2, brew list lcms). Also check linked libraries in your application with 'ldd <executable>' or 'objdump -p <binary> | grep lcms'.Affected if Version is 2.16 exactly, or falls within the 2.16.x lineage without a patch applied to later versions.
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Locate the cmsgamma.c library fileSearch for 'cmsgamma.c' or 'liblcms2.so' on the system: 'find / -name 'liblcms2*' 2>/dev/null' or check application bundle directories. Note the file path and version metadata if embedded.Affected if The library file present is from lcms2-2.16 release.
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Determine if smooth2() is invoked in your applicationSearch application binaries and shared objects for references to 'smooth2': 'nm -D <binary> | grep smooth2' or 'strings <binary> | grep smooth2'. Also check source code if available for calls to cmsSmooth2() or smooth2().Affected if The application calls or links to the smooth2() function from lcms2.
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Assess if color profile input is untrustedReview how your application loads ICC color profiles. Check if profiles are loaded from user uploads, network input, files outside trust boundaries, or processed without validation. Examine configuration for profile processing paths.Affected if The smooth2() function processes ICC profiles from untrusted or user-controlled sources.
You are affected if your system runs lcms2 version 2.16 (or an unpatched variant) and the smooth2() function is called on color profile data 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 dataUpdate lcms2 to a patched version if available, or if the affected smooth2() function is not required, ensure it is not accessible/used in the application. Consider input validation if the function is called with user-controlled data.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-29070 — 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-2025-29070 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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