Null pointer dereference because of an uninitialized variable in stb_image

published 2023-10-20 3 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2023-49958

cvss: 5.3; version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 1.3%; EPSS 1.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 69%
public exploits: 0; none known

stb_image is a single file MIT licensed library for processing images.

If `stbi__load_gif_main` in `stbi_load_gif_from_memory` fails it returns a null pointer and may keep the `z` variable uninitialized. In case the caller also sets the flip vertically flag, it continues and calls `stbi__vertical_flip_slices` with the null pointer result value and the uninitialized `z` value. This may result in a program crash.

Patch / fix

distros 1

stb Alpine 3.24, Alpine 3.23, Alpine 3.22 +3 more 0_git20231012-r0

alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2023-45667

Alpine secdb © Alpine Linux, from https://secdb.alpinelinux.org via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

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-2023-45667 updated 2025-11-21

stb: memory access violation

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

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: Proof of concept is public
Automatable: yes
Technical impact: partial
Assessed: 2 y ago (2024-09-12)

Exploit prediction

1.27% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 69% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	3.1	5.3	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
NVD	3.1	7.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected products

nothings stb
nothings stb_image

Classification

Weakness

CWE-476 NULL Pointer Dereference

References

Sources

CVE List CVE-2023-45667
NVD CVE-2023-45667

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.

Summary