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Fencer Vulns
high 7.8

CVE-2021-3496 json

A heap-based buffer overflow was found in jhead in version 3.06 in Get16u() in exif.c when processing a crafted file.

published 2021-04-22 5 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2021-26817

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
1.1%
EPSS 1.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 64%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

A heap-based buffer overflow was found in jhead in version 3.06 in Get16u() in exif.c when processing a crafted file.

Patch / fix

  • jhead Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 1:3.04-6

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2021-3496

  • jhead Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS 1:2.97-1+deb8u2ubuntu0.1~esm3
  • jhead Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS 1:3.00-4+deb9u1ubuntu0.1~esm3
  • jhead Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS 1:3.00-8~ubuntu0.2+esm1
  • jhead Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS 1:3.04-1ubuntu0.2+esm1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2021-3496

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • jhead openSUSE Tumbleweed 3.06.0.1-1.3
  • jhead Package Hub 15 SP2 3.06.0.1-bp152.4.6.1
  • jhead openSUSE Leap 15.2 3.06.0.1-lp152.7.6.1
  • jhead Package Hub 15 SP2 3.00-bp152.4.3.1
  • jhead openSUSE Leap 15.2 3.00-lp152.7.3.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:10880-1openSUSE-SU-2021:0752-1openSUSE-SU-2021:0743-1openSUSE-SU-2021:0620-1openSUSE-SU-2021:0594-1

  • jhead Arch Linux 3.06.0.1-1

arch linux advisories AVG-1815

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-2021-3496 updated cvss 5.5

jhead: heap-based buffer overflow in Get16u() in exif.c

  • Red Hat All currently supported Red Hat products
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

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

1.06% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 64% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • github.com https://github.com/Matthias-Wandel/jhead/issues/33 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 6.8 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Affected products

  • n/a jhead

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-119 Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer
  • CWE-787 Out-of-bounds Write

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.