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-2940162
  • published21 Mar 2026
  • disclosed28 Jun 2022

Introduced: 28 Jun 2022

CVE-2021-41687  (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 program malloc a heap memory for parsing data, but does not free it when error in parsing. Sending specific requests to the dcmqrdb program incur the memory leak. An attacker can use it to launch a DoS attack.

CVSS Base Scores

version 3.1