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Fencer Vulns
medium 6.8

CVE-2009-0040 json

The PNG reference library (aka libpng) before 1.0.43, and 1.2.x before 1.2.35, as used in pngcrush and other applications, allows context-d…

published 2009-02-22 17 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2009-0049

cvss
6.8
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
4.8%
EPSS 4.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 92%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The PNG reference library (aka libpng) before 1.0.43, and 1.2.x before 1.2.35, as used in pngcrush and other applications, allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted PNG file that triggers a free of an uninitialized pointer in (1) the png_read_png function, (2) pCAL chunk handling, or (3) setup of 16-bit gamma tables.

Patch / fix

  • libpng libpng 1.0.43, 1.2.35
  • apple iphone_os 3.0
  • apple mac_os_x 10.5.8
  • libpng RHEL 3 2:1.2.2-29
  • libpng10 RHEL 3 1.0.13-20
  • libpng RHEL 2.1 2:1.0.14-12
  • libpng RHEL 4 2:1.2.7-3.el4_7.2
  • libpng RHEL 5 2:1.2.10-7.1.el5_3.2
  • libpng10 RHEL 4 1.0.16-3.el4_7.3
  • seamonkey RHEL 2.1 1.0.9-0.30.el2
  • seamonkey RHEL 3 1.0.9-0.34.el3

red hat advisories RHSA-2009:0340RHSA-2009:0333RHSA-2009:0325RHSA-2009:0315

  • firefox-esr openSUSE Tumbleweed 128.5.1-1.1
  • MozillaFirefox openSUSE Tumbleweed 50.1.0-1.1
  • MozillaThunderbird openSUSE Tumbleweed 45.5.1-1.1
  • libpng16 openSUSE Tumbleweed 1.6.37-3.3

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:14572-1openSUSE-SU-2024:10071-1openSUSE-SU-2024:10230-1openSUSE-SU-2024:10972-1

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2009-0040 updated cvss 6.8

libpng arbitrary free() flaw

  • Red Hat Desktop version 3 libpng 1.2.2-29, libpng10 1.0.13-20, seamonkey 1.0.9-0.34.el3, seamonkey-nss 1.0.9-0.34.el3, seamonkey-chat 1.0.9-0.34.el3, seamonkey-mail 1.0.9-0.34.el3, +3 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:0325
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server) firefox 3.0.7-1.el5, xulrunner 1.9.0.7-1.el5, libpng 1.2.10-7.1.el5_3.2, xulrunner-devel-unstable 1.9.0.7-1.el5 Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS (Advanced Server) version 2.1 libpng 1.0.14-12, seamonkey 1.0.9-0.30.el2, seamonkey-nss 1.0.9-0.30.el2, seamonkey-chat 1.0.9-0.30.el2, seamonkey-mail 1.0.9-0.30.el2, seamonkey-nspr 1.0.9-0.30.el2, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:0333
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 3 libpng 1.2.2-29, libpng10 1.0.13-20, seamonkey 1.0.9-0.34.el3, seamonkey-nss 1.0.9-0.34.el3, seamonkey-chat 1.0.9-0.34.el3, seamonkey-mail 1.0.9-0.34.el3, +3 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:0325
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 4 firefox 3.0.7-1.el4, libpng 1.2.7-3.el4_7.2, seamonkey 1.0.9-38.el4, libpng10 1.0.16-3.el4_7.3, seamonkey-chat 1.0.9-38.el4, seamonkey-mail 1.0.9-38.el4, +2 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client) firefox 3.0.7-1.el5, xulrunner 1.9.0.7-1.el5, libpng 1.2.10-7.1.el5_3.2, xulrunner-devel-unstable 1.9.0.7-1.el5 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop version 4 firefox 3.0.7-1.el4, libpng 1.2.7-3.el4_7.2, seamonkey 1.0.9-38.el4, libpng10 1.0.16-3.el4_7.3, seamonkey-chat 1.0.9-38.el4, seamonkey-mail 1.0.9-38.el4, +2 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Workstation (v. 5 client) xulrunner 1.9.0.7-1.el5, libpng 1.2.10-7.1.el5_3.2, xulrunner-devel-unstable 1.9.0.7-1.el5 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 2.1 libpng 1.0.14-12, seamonkey 1.0.9-0.30.el2, seamonkey-nss 1.0.9-0.30.el2, seamonkey-chat 1.0.9-0.30.el2, seamonkey-mail 1.0.9-0.30.el2, seamonkey-nspr 1.0.9-0.30.el2, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:0333
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 3 libpng 1.2.2-29, libpng10 1.0.13-20, seamonkey 1.0.9-0.34.el3, seamonkey-nss 1.0.9-0.34.el3, seamonkey-chat 1.0.9-0.34.el3, seamonkey-mail 1.0.9-0.34.el3, +3 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:0325
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 4 firefox 3.0.7-1.el4, libpng 1.2.7-3.el4_7.2, seamonkey 1.0.9-38.el4, libpng10 1.0.16-3.el4_7.3, seamonkey-chat 1.0.9-38.el4, seamonkey-mail 1.0.9-38.el4, +2 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 2.1 libpng 1.0.14-12, seamonkey 1.0.9-0.30.el2, seamonkey-nss 1.0.9-0.30.el2, seamonkey-chat 1.0.9-0.30.el2, seamonkey-mail 1.0.9-0.30.el2, seamonkey-nspr 1.0.9-0.30.el2, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:0333
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 3 libpng 1.2.2-29, libpng10 1.0.13-20, seamonkey 1.0.9-0.34.el3, seamonkey-nss 1.0.9-0.34.el3, seamonkey-chat 1.0.9-0.34.el3, seamonkey-mail 1.0.9-0.34.el3, +3 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:0325
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 4 firefox 3.0.7-1.el4, libpng 1.2.7-3.el4_7.2, seamonkey 1.0.9-38.el4, libpng10 1.0.16-3.el4_7.3, seamonkey-chat 1.0.9-38.el4, seamonkey-mail 1.0.9-38.el4, +2 more Red Hat Linux Advanced Workstation 2.1 libpng 1.0.14-12, seamonkey 1.0.9-0.30.el2, seamonkey-nss 1.0.9-0.30.el2, seamonkey-chat 1.0.9-0.30.el2, seamonkey-mail 1.0.9-0.30.el2, seamonkey-nspr 1.0.9-0.30.el2, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:0333

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

4.83% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 92% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 6.8 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-824 Access of Uninitialized Pointer

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.