CVE-2026-24799
Buffer Overflow in dlib's inflate.C Risks Memory Corruption
Publication date: 2026-01-27
Last updated on: 2026-01-27
Assigner: Government Technology Agency of Singapore Cyber Security Group (GovTech CSG)
Description
Description
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
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Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| davisking | dlib | to 19.24.9 (exc) |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-787 | The product writes data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer. |
| CWE-120 | The product copies an input buffer to an output buffer without verifying that the size of the input buffer is less than the size of the output buffer. |
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?
This vulnerability is a classic buffer overflow in the davisking dlib library's inflate() function, specifically in the handling of the gzip header extra field during decompression. If the extra field size is larger than the buffer provided by the user, and multiple calls to inflate() deliver the extra header data, the function can write beyond the allocated buffer, causing an out-of-bounds write. This happens because the code did not properly check the size of the input against the buffer size, leading to a potential overflow. [1]
What immediate steps should I take to mitigate this vulnerability?
The immediate mitigation step is to update dlib to version v19.24.9 or later, which includes the security patch that prevents the buffer overflow by properly checking the size of the gzip header extra field buffer. Applying this update will eliminate the vulnerability. Additionally, avoid processing untrusted gzip data with vulnerable versions of dlib until patched. [1]
How can this vulnerability impact me? :
This buffer overflow vulnerability can lead to memory corruption, which may cause application crashes, data corruption, or potentially allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the affected application. Since the vulnerability occurs during decompression of gzip data, an attacker could craft malicious compressed data to exploit this flaw when processed by the vulnerable dlib version. [1]
How can this vulnerability be detected on my network or system? Can you suggest some commands?
This vulnerability involves a buffer overflow in the inflate() function when processing gzip header extra fields in the dlib library. Detection would involve monitoring or analyzing applications using vulnerable versions of dlib (before v19.24.9) that handle gzip decompression. There are no specific commands provided to detect exploitation attempts or vulnerable instances directly. However, you can check the version of dlib in your environment to identify if it is before v19.24.9, which is vulnerable. [1]