What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2025-66293: LIBPNG has an out-of-bounds read in png_image_read_composite

• Severity: high (CVSS 7.1 v3.1)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 0.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: yes
• Published: 2025-12-03 · updated 2026-10-18
• Weakness: CWE-125

Description

LIBPNG is a reference library for use in applications that read, create, and manipulate PNG (Portable Network Graphics) raster image files. Prior to 1.6.52, an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in libpng's simplified API allows reading up to 1012 bytes beyond the png_sRGB_base[512] array when processing valid palette PNG images with partial transparency and gamma correction. The PNG files that trigger this vulnerability are valid per the PNG specification; the bug is in libpng's internal state management. Upgrade to libpng 1.6.52 or later.

Affected products

• pnggroup libpng: before 1.6.52 — fixed in 1.6.52

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: pnggroup libpng 1.6.52. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://github.com/pnggroup/libpng/commit/788a624d7387a758ffd5c7ab010f1870dea753a1
• https://github.com/pnggroup/libpng/commit/a05a48b756de63e3234ea6b3b938b8f5f862484a
• https://github.com/pnggroup/libpng/issues/764
• https://github.com/pnggroup/libpng/security/advisories/GHSA-9mpm-9pxh-mg4f
• http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/12/03/6
• http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/12/03/7
• http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/12/03/8
• https://github.com/pnggroup/libpng/issues/764

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