Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop') Affecting libheif package, versions <1.23.0-r0


Severity

Recommended
low

Based on default assessment until relevant scores are available.

Threat Intelligence

EPSS
0.32% (24th percentile)

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  • Snyk IDSNYK-ALPINE323-LIBHEIF-17268058
  • published10 Jun 2026
  • disclosed19 May 2026

Introduced: 19 May 2026

CVE-2026-32739  (opens in a new tab)
CWE-835  (opens in a new tab)

How to fix?

Upgrade Alpine:3.23 libheif to version 1.23.0-r0 or higher.

NVD Description

Note: Versions mentioned in the description apply only to the upstream libheif package and not the libheif package as distributed by Alpine. See How to fix? for Alpine:3.23 relevant fixed versions and status.

libheif is a HEIF and AVIF file format decoder and encoder. In versions 1.21.2 and below, a crafted 800-byte HEIF sequence file causes an infinite loop in Box_stts::get_sample_duration(), consuming 100% CPU indefinitely with zero progress, leading to DoS. The loop has no iteration limit or timeout and is triggered during file open (parsing) - before any user interaction or image decoding. The process stays alive (no crash, no error logged), making it invisible to crash-based monitoring. This issue has been fixed in version 1.22.0.

CVSS Base Scores

version 3.1