CVE-2026-46602
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 · uneditedThe TIFF decoder does not set a limit on the size of tiles in tiled images, permitting a malicious or corrupt image containing a very large tile to cause unbounded memory consumption.
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 confidenceA vulnerability in the TIFF decoder allows unbounded memory allocation when processing tiled TIFF images with excessively large tiles. A malicious or corrupt TIFF file can specify an arbitrarily large tile size, causing the decoder to attempt allocating huge amounts of memory, leading to denial of service via memory exhaustion.
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 TIFF processing componentsLocate all software/libraries that handle TIFF image decoding in your environment. Common libraries include libtiff, ImageMagick, graphicsmagick, or built-in OS image handlers. Search for binaries or libraries with 'tiff' in the name.Affected if Any TIFF decoding library or application is present on the system
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Check TIFF library versionRun version command on the identified TIFF library (e.g., 'tiffinfo -version', 'identify -version', or check library file properties). Compare the version number against any known affected version ranges for this vulnerability.Affected if The installed version falls within an affected range or is unpatched
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Verify tiled TIFF processing capabilityDetermine if your image processing workflows accept or process tiled TIFF files. Check application logs, documentation, or test with a sample tiled TIFF image using 'tiffinfo' or 'tifftopnm' to inspect tile structure.Affected if The system or applications process tiled TIFF images as part of normal operations
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Inspect input validation for TIFF filesExamine your image processing configuration and code for any tile dimension validation before memory allocation. Check if bounds checking exists in your TIFF decoder settings or if file size/dimension limits are enforced.Affected if No tile dimension validation or size limits are configured in the TIFF decoder
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Test with oversized tile specificationIf you have testing capability, create or obtain a TIFF file with an intentionally large tile width/height value (exceeding reasonable limits like 100000 pixels) and attempt to open it with your TIFF decoder. Monitor memory usage during processing.Affected if The decoder attempts to allocate memory for the oversized tile without rejecting or truncating it
You are affected if your environment uses a TIFF decoder that processes tiled images and lacks bounds checking on tile dimensions, allowing potential unbounded memory allocation when opening maliciously crafted TIFF files with oversized tiles.
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 dataImplement bounds checking in the TIFF decoder to validate and limit tile dimensions against reasonable maximum values before allocating memory. Reject or truncate tiles that exceed established safe thresholds.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,808.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-46602 — 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-2026-46602 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
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