CVE-2026-53532

Received Received - Intake

Denial of Service in OpenEXR via HTJ2K Compression

Publication date: 2026-08-24

Last updated on: 2026-08-24

Assigner: GitHub, Inc.

Description

OpenEXR is the reference implementation and specification for the EXR image format, widely used in the motion picture industry. In versions 3.4.0 through 3.4.12, a crafted HTJ2K-compressed EXR file causes an unconditional process abort in any application that calls exr_start_read() on untrusted input, resulting in denial of service. The crash is triggered by a QCD marker whose lower five bits are zero, which OpenEXR passes into the vendored OpenJPH library while constructing the codestream and evaluating its quantization delta parameters. OpenJPH uses an assertion rather than a recoverable error to validate those bits, so any invalid value calls abort() directly and cannot be intercepted by surrounding error handling, a problem compounded by OpenEXR wrapping only its internal HT header parser in error handling while leaving the later codestream read and construction calls unprotected. This issue has been resolved in version 3.4.13.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published

2026-08-24

Last Modified

2026-08-24

Generated

2026-08-25

AI Q&A

2026-08-25

EPSS Evaluated

N/A

NVD

CVE-2026-53532

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
openexr	openexr	From 3.4.0 (inc) to 3.4.12 (inc)
openexr	openexr	3.4.13

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-617	The product contains an assert() or similar statement that can be triggered by an attacker, which leads to an application exit or other behavior that is more severe than necessary.

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

This vulnerability affects OpenEXR versions 3.4.0 through 3.4.12. A crafted HTJ2K-compressed EXR file can cause an unconditional process abort when processed by applications calling exr_start_read() on untrusted input, leading to denial of service. The crash occurs due to a QCD marker with lower five bits set to zero, which OpenEXR passes to the OpenJPH library. OpenJPH uses an assertion to validate these bits, triggering an abort() call that cannot be intercepted by error handling.

Detection Guidance

Detecting this vulnerability requires checking for OpenEXR versions 3.4.0 through 3.4.12 and verifying if HTJ2K-compressed EXR files are processed. Commands like 'exrheader' or 'exrinfo' on suspicious files may reveal issues. However, no direct detection commands are provided in the context.

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can cause denial of service by crashing applications that process malicious EXR files. Users relying on OpenEXR for image processing in motion picture workflows may experience unexpected application termination, leading to workflow disruptions and potential data loss if unsaved work is affected.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability causes denial of service by crashing applications processing crafted HTJ2K-compressed EXR files, which could disrupt services handling sensitive data. For GDPR, this may impact availability of personal data processing systems. For HIPAA, it could interrupt systems managing protected health information. However, the CVE does not provide specific compliance impact details.

Mitigation Strategies

Upgrade OpenEXR to version 3.4.13 or later to resolve the issue. If immediate upgrade is not possible, avoid processing untrusted HTJ2K-compressed EXR files until patched.

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