Information Exposure Affecting libheif package, versions <1.6.1-1ubuntu0.1~esm3


Severity

Recommended
medium

Based on Ubuntu security rating.

Threat Intelligence

EPSS
0.31% (24th percentile)

Do your applications use this vulnerable package?

In a few clicks we can analyze your entire application and see what components are vulnerable in your application, and suggest you quick fixes.

Test your applications
  • Snyk IDSNYK-UBUNTU2004-LIBHEIF-16780762
  • published17 Jun 2026
  • disclosed19 May 2026

Introduced: 19 May 2026

CVE-2026-32814  (opens in a new tab)
CWE-200  (opens in a new tab)
CWE-908  (opens in a new tab)

How to fix?

Upgrade Ubuntu:20.04 libheif to version 1.6.1-1ubuntu0.1~esm3 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 Ubuntu. See How to fix? for Ubuntu:20.04 relevant fixed versions and status.

libheif is a HEIF and AVIF file format decoder and encoder. In versions 1.21.2 and prior, when decoding a HEIF grid image with strict_decoding=false (the default), a corrupted tile silently fails to decode and the library returns heif_error_Ok with no indication of failure, leading to an uninitialized heap memory information leak. The canvas is allocated via create_clone_image_at_new_size() → plane.alloc() → new (std::nothrow) uint8_t[allocation_size] which does not zero the memory; only the alpha plane is explicitly initialized via fill_plane(), so the Y, Cb, and Cr planes contain whatever was previously at that heap address. The failed tile's region of the canvas is never written. It retains uninitialized heap data that is delivered to the caller as decoded pixel values (4,096 bytes per Y/Cb/Cr plane = 12,288+ bytes total). Any application using libheif to decode grid-based HEIF/AVIF files with default settings is vulnerable: a crafted .heic or .avif file causes 4,096+ bytes of heap memory to appear as pixel values in the decoded image, and the calling application receives heif_error_Ok, so it has no indication the output contains heap garbage. In server-side image processing, an uploaded crafted HEIF decoded and re-encoded (e.g., as PNG/JPEG for thumbnails, CDN, social media) can leak cross-user data such as auth tokens, database results, and other users' image data. This issue has been fixed in version 1.22.0.

CVSS Base Scores

version 3.1