FFmpeg 8.1 through 9.0.2 EXIF Parser Memory Exhaustion via Overlapping Tags

Advisories

FFmpeg 8.1 through 9.0.2 EXIF Parser Memory Exhaustion via Overlapping Tags

Severity: medium
Date: 11/9/2026
Affecting: FFmpeg >= 8.1, <= 9.0.2
CVE: CVE-2026-125180
CWE: CWE-770 Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
CVSS: 6.8
CVSS V4 Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
References: https://code.ffmpeg.org/FFmpeg/FFmpeg/pulls/25408
Patch Commit
https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg/blob/n9.0.2/libavcodec/exif.c#L274
https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg
Credit: Joshua Rogers (AISLE Research), Michael Niedermayer
Description: FFmpeg 8.1 through 9.0.2 contains a memory exhaustion vulnerability in the libavcodec/exif.c parser that allows attackers to amplify allocations by pointing many IFD entries at overlapping payloads. Attackers can embed a small crafted EXIF block in TIFF, JPEG, PNG or WebP images to trigger quadratic memory allocation, causing denial of service in decoding applications.

Ready to get Started?

Explore VulnCheck, a next-generation Cyber Threat Intelligence platform, which provides exploit and vulnerability intelligence to help you prioritize and remediate vulnerabilities that matter.

Vulnerability Prioritization
Prioritize vulnerabilities that matter based on the threat landscape and defer vulnerabilities that don't.
Early Warning System
Real-time alerting of changes in the vulnerability landscape so that you can take action before the attacks start.

Schedule a Demo