CVE-2023-45662: Multi-byte read heap buffer overflow in stbi__vertical_flip in stb_image

Severity: high (CVSS 8.1 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.8% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2023-10-21 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-125

Description

stb_image is a single file MIT licensed library for processing images. When `stbi_set_flip_vertically_on_load` is set to `TRUE` and `req_comp` is set to a number that doesn’t match the real number of components per pixel, the library attempts to flip the image vertically. A crafted image file can trigger `memcpy` out-of-bounds read because `bytes_per_pixel` used to calculate `bytes_per_row` doesn’t match the real image array dimensions.

Affected products

nothings stb: 2.28

References

https://github.com/nothings/stb/blob/5736b15f7ea0ffb08dd38af21067c314d6a3aae9/stb_image.h#L1235
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/NMXKOKPP4BKTNUTF5KSRDQAWOUILQZNO/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/QVABVF4GEM6BYD5L4L64RCRSXUHY6LGN/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/UVQ7ONFH5GWLMXYEAJG32A3EUKUCEVCR/
https://securitylab.github.com/advisories/GHSL-2023-145_GHSL-2023-151_stb_image_h/
https://github.com/nothings/stb/blob/5736b15f7ea0ffb08dd38af21067c314d6a3aae9/stb_image.h#L1235
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/NMXKOKPP4BKTNUTF5KSRDQAWOUILQZNO/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/QVABVF4GEM6BYD5L4L64RCRSXUHY6LGN/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/UVQ7ONFH5GWLMXYEAJG32A3EUKUCEVCR/
https://securitylab.github.com/advisories/GHSL-2023-145_GHSL-2023-151_stb_image_h/

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