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Out-of-bounds WriteWeakness · CWE-787

CVE-2025-59733

HIGH · 8.7 CVSS v4.0 Published 2025-10-06
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
90/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
When decoding an OpenEXR file that uses DWAA or DWAB compression, there's an implicit assumption that all image channels have the same pixel type (and size), and that if there are four channels, the first four are "B", "G", "R" and "A". The channel parsing code can be found in decode_header. The buffer td->uncompressed_data is allocated in decode_block based on the xsize, ysize and computed current_channel_offset. The function dwa_uncompress then assumes at [5] that if there are 4 channels, these are "B", "G", "R" and "A", and in the calculations at [6] and [7] that all channels are of the same type, which matches the type of the main color channels. If we set the main color channels to a 4-byte type and add duplicate or unknown channels of the 2-byte EXR_HALF type, then the addition at [7] will increment the pointer by 4-bytes * xsize * nb_channels, which will exceed the allocated buffer. We recommend upgrading to version 8.0 or beyond.

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

Heap-based buffer overflow in OpenEXR's DWAA/DWAB decompression. The decoder incorrectly assumes all channels share the same pixel type/size as the main color channels, and that 4 channels map to BGRA. When channels of different sizes (e.g., 2-byte EXR_HALF) are added alongside 4-byte main channels, pointer arithmetic at [7] uses 4-byte increments, causing the write to exceed the buffer allocated based on mixed channel sizes.

MitigationUpgrade OpenEXR to version 8.0 or later, which includes proper handling of heterogeneous channel types in DWAA/DWAB decompression.

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
Adjacent
Complexity
High
Privileges
None
Authentication
X
User interaction
P
Scope
X

CVSS:4.0/AV:A/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/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. Check OpenEXR library version
    Run 'openexr-config --version' or examine the installed libOpenEXR library file (e.g., 'ls -la /usr/lib/libOpenEXR*') to identify the version number
    Affected if The installed version is earlier than 8.0.0 (versions prior to 8.0 lack the heterogeneous channel type handling fix)
  2. Identify if DWAA or DWAB compression is used
    Inspect the OpenEXR file header using 'exrheader <file.exr>' or a similar tool; look for the 'compression' field in the output
    Affected if The 'compression' field shows 'DWAA' or 'DWAB' (the vulnerability only affects these compression types)
  3. Check for heterogeneous channel types in the file
    Using 'exrheader <file.exr>', examine the channel definitions (e.g., 'channel R', 'channel G', 'channel B', 'channel A') and their pixel types (HALF, FLOAT, UINT)
    Affected if The file contains channels of different pixel types/sizes (e.g., some channels are HALF while others are FLOAT, or channels of differing byte sizes coexist); this mixed sizing triggers the faulty pointer arithmetic

A user is affected if they use OpenEXR versions prior to 8.0 to decompress files using DWAA or DWAB compression that contain channels with heterogeneous pixel type sizes.

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

Upgrade OpenEXR to version 8.0 or later, which includes proper handling of heterogeneous channel types in DWAA/DWAB decompression.

Recommended fix High confidence

OpenEXR version 8.0 or later

  1. Identify the current version of OpenEXR installed in your project by checking your dependency manifest or by running a package manager query (e.g., `pip show openexr`, `conan search`, or checking `package.json`/`Cargo.toml` depending on your build system)
  2. Locate the build system or dependency management file where OpenEXR is declared (e.g., `CMakeLists.txt`, `conanfile.txt`, `package-lock.json`, `requirements.txt`)
  3. Update the OpenEXR dependency requirement to version 8.0 or higher. For example, in a CMake find_package statement, change the version requirement; in Python, use `pip install openexr>=8.0`; in Conan, update the version constraint
  4. Run your dependency update process (e.g., `conan install`, `pip install -r requirements.txt`, or rebuild the project)
  5. Verify the new version is installed correctly by checking the library version at runtime or rebuilding and confirming no version-related errors
  6. Rebuild and test your application to ensure the OpenEXR decoding functionality works correctly with the new version
Caveat Review the OpenEXR 8.0 release notes for any API or behavior changes that may affect existing code using DWAA/DWAB compression decoding

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing5.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
17.0 hours of engineering $2,970
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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-2025-59733 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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