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LibrawApplication

CVE-2026-20911

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-04-07
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
A heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the HuffTable::initval functionality of LibRaw Commit 0b56545 and Commit d20315b. A specially crafted malicious file can lead to a heap buffer overflow. An attacker can provide a malicious file to trigger this vulnerability.

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 confidence

A heap-based buffer overflow exists in LibRaw's HuffTable::initval function, which handles Huffman table initialization during raw image parsing. When processing a specially crafted malicious raw image file, the code fails to properly validate bounds when initializing Huffman table values, causing writing beyond allocated heap memory and leading to potential code execution or denial of service.

MitigationUpdate LibRaw to a patched version that fixes the HuffTable::initval boundary validation. Until patched, exercise extreme caution when processing raw image files from untrusted sources using LibRaw-based applications.

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
LibrawApplication
Affected:= 0.22.0= 0.22.1

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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 LibRaw version
    Run 'pkg-config --modversion libraw' or check your application's dependency manifest for the libraw library version
    Affected if The version shown is 0.22.0 or 0.22.1
  2. Locate the LibRaw library binary
    Find the shared library file (libraw.so on Linux, libraw.dll on Windows, or libraw.dylib on macOS) in your system or application bundle
    Affected if The library file exists and is used by your image processing workflow
  3. Verify HuffTable::initval function presence
    Use 'nm libraw.so | grep initval' or a disassembler to check if the HuffTable::initval function symbol exists in the binary
    Affected if The function symbol is present, indicating the vulnerable code path exists
  4. Confirm image processing context
    Review application logs or code to determine if your system uses LibRaw to process raw image files from untrusted sources
    Affected if LibRaw processes raw image files, especially from external or untrusted inputs

You are affected if your environment uses LibRaw version 0.22.0 or 0.22.1 to process raw image files, since the heap overflow vulnerability in HuffTable::initval can be triggered by specially crafted Huffman table values in malicious image files.

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

Update LibRaw to a patched version that fixes the HuffTable::initval boundary validation. Until patched, exercise extreme caution when processing raw image files from untrusted sources using LibRaw-based applications.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

LibRaw version newer than 0.22.1 (check official releases for 0.22.2 or later)

  1. 1. Identify all systems and applications that use the vulnerable LibRaw library versions 0.22.0 or 0.22.1
  2. 2. Check the official LibRaw release repository or security advisories for versions newer than 0.22.1 that address this vulnerability
  3. 3. Upgrade LibRaw to the latest stable release that contains the fix for the heap-based buffer overflow in HuffTable::initval
  4. 4. Rebuild and recompile any applications that link against LibRaw with the updated library
  5. 5. Verify the upgrade by testing with the vulnerable file format or using automated dependency scanning tools
  6. 6. Re-deploy the updated applications to all production systems
Caveat Minimal risk; LibRaw minor version upgrades typically maintain backward compatibility for standard raw image processing

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

Fix this in Libraw Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,760
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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-2026-20911 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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