ExifReader is vulnerable to denial of service via unbounded decompression of image metadata

published 2026-05-19 5 mo ago modified 2026-07-23 3 mo ago also GHSA-rr89-w3h9-m66j , EUVD-2026-30842

cvss: 5.3; version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.5%; EPSS 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 40%
public exploits: 0; none known

Versions of the package exifreader before 4.39.0 are vulnerable to Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification) due to decompressing PNG zTXt metadata without enforcing a built-in maximum decompressed output size. When asynchronous parsing is enabled, a crafted PNG file containing a highly compressed zTXt chunk can cause ExifReader to materialize a disproportionately large Comment value in memory.

Patch / fix

fixed in 2 links 1

npm exifreader 4.39.0
n/a exifreader 4.39.0

github.com/mattiasw/ExifReader@5f11612 commit

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: Proof of concept is public
Automatable: yes
Technical impact: partial
Assessed: 5 mo ago (2026-05-19)

Exploit prediction

0.46% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 40% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

security.snyk.io https://security.snyk.io/vuln/SNYK-JS-EXIFREADER-16689340 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	4.0	6.9	CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P
CNA	3.1	5.3	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L/E:P
CNA	4.0	5.5	CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
CNA	3.1	5.3	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
GitHub	3.1	5.3	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

Affected packages

ecosystem	package	affected	fixed in
npm	exifreader	>=4.20.0, <4.39.0	4.39.0

Affected products

n/a exifreader

Classification

Weakness

CWE-409 Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification)

References

Sources

CVE List CVE-2026-8814
GitHub Advisory GHSA-rr89-w3h9-m66j
NVD CVE-2026-8814

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