Memory Leak Affecting dcmtk package, versions <3.6.1~20150924-5ubuntu0.1~esm1


Severity

Recommended
low

Based on Ubuntu security rating.

Threat Intelligence

EPSS
1.74% (77th percentile)

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  • Snyk IDSNYK-UBUNTU1604-DCMTK-2940138
  • published21 Mar 2026
  • disclosed28 Jun 2022

Introduced: 28 Jun 2022

CVE-2021-41690  (opens in a new tab)
CWE-401  (opens in a new tab)

How to fix?

Upgrade Ubuntu:16.04 dcmtk to version 3.6.120150924-5ubuntu0.1esm1 or higher.

NVD Description

Note: Versions mentioned in the description apply only to the upstream dcmtk package and not the dcmtk package as distributed by Ubuntu. See How to fix? for Ubuntu:16.04 relevant fixed versions and status.

DCMTK through 3.6.6 does not handle memory free properly. The malloced memory for storing all file information are recorded in a global variable LST and are not freed properly. Sending specific requests to the dcmqrdb program can incur a memory leak. An attacker can use it to launch a DoS attack.

CVSS Base Scores

version 3.1