CVE-2025-48072: OpenEXR OpenEXR Out Of Bounds Heap Vulnerability

Q: What is CVE-2025-48072?

CVE-2025-48072 is a security vulnerability in OpenEXR involving OpenEXR Out of Bounds Heap Read due to Bad Pointer Arithmetic in LossyDctDecoder_execute under CWE-125: Out-of-bounds Read.

Q: Which OpenEXR versions are affected?

Affected versions include releases prior to 3.3.3 across affected packages: OpenEXR.

Q: What version fixes CVE-2025-48072?

Upgrading to 3.3.3 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.

Q: Is OpenEXR affected?

Yes, OpenEXR is affected in releases prior to 3.3.3. Upgrade your dependency to 3.3.3 or later.

Q: What CWE is associated with CVE-2025-48072?

CVE-2025-48072 is classified under CWE-125: Out-of-bounds Read (The product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.).

Q: How can I check PyPI dependencies for CVE-2025-48072?

Run the dependency tree command: 'pip show OpenEXR'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.

MODERATE

Advisory Identifier: GHSA-4r7w-q3jg-ff43

CWE-125

Published 2025-07-31

Advisory Summary

CVE-2025-48072 is a MODERATE openexr out of bounds heap vulnerability (CWE-125: Out-of-bounds Read) affecting OpenEXR libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves openexr out of bounds heap read due to bad pointer arithmetic in lossydctdecoder_execute. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 3.3.3.

CVE-2025-48072 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2025-48072

GHSA Identifier GHSA-4r7w-q3jg-ff43

Severity MODERATE

CVSS v3.1 Base Score N/A

CWE Classification CWE-125: Out-of-bounds Read

Affected Product OpenEXR

Package Ecosystem PyPI

Published Date 2025-07-31

Last Updated 2025-08-01

How to Fix CVE-2025-48072

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected OpenEXR dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

OpenEXR fixed: 3.3.3

pip install OpenEXR>=3.3.3

Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release:

pip show OpenEXR

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Python environment is affected by CVE-2025-48072, inspect your installed packages using pip:

pip show OpenEXR

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of OpenEXR in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 3.3.3), your application is affected.

Note: The pip show OpenEXR command checks currently installed packages in your active Python environment.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-125: Out-of-bounds Read, where the product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer. In OpenEXR, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

### Summary The OpenEXRCore code is vulnerable to a heap-based buffer overflow during a read operation due to bad pointer math when decompressing DWAA-packed scan-line EXR files with a maliciously forged chunk. ### Details In the `LossyDctDecoder_execute` function (from `src/lib/OpenEXRCore/internal_dwa_decoder.h`, when SSE2 is enabled), the following code is used to copy data from the chunks: ```cpp // no-op conversion to linear for (int y = 8 * blocky; y < 8 * blocky + maxY; ++y) { __m128i* restrict dst = (__m128i *) chanData[comp]->_rows[y]; __m128i const * restrict src = (__m128i const *)&rowBlock[comp][(y & 0x7) * 8]; for (int blockx = 0; blockx < numFullBlocksX; ++blockx) { _mm_storeu_si128 (dst, _mm_loadu_si128 (src)); // src += 8 * 8; // <--- si128 pointer incremented as a uint16_t dst += 8; } } ``` The issue arises because the `src` pointer, which is a `si128` pointer, is incremented by `8*8`, as if it were a `uint16_t` pointer (64 * uint16_t == 128 bytes). In non-block aligned chunks (width/height not a multiple of 8), this can cause `src` to point past the boundaries of the chunk. ### PoC In order to reproduce the PoC with fidelity and avoid undefined behaviors, it is necessary to enable ASAN (and SSE2). Otherwise the out-of-bound read will not be detected until its side-effect causes a crash. NOTE: please download the `dwadecoder_crash.exr` file from the following link: https://github.com/ShielderSec/poc/tree/main/CVE-2025-48072 1. Compile the `exrcheck` binary in a macOS or GNU/Linux machine with ASAN. 2. Open the `dwadecoder_crash.exr` file with the following command: ``` exrcheck dwadecoder_crash.exr ``` 3. Notice that `exrcheck` crashes with ASAN stack-trace. ``` ==2297956==ERROR: AddressSanitizer: heap-buffer-overflow on address 0x52500000a110 at pc 0x55e590db7bf1 bp 0x7fff948bb110 sp 0x7fff948bb108 READ of size 16 at 0x52500000a110 thread T0 #0 0x55e590db7bf0 in LossyDctDecoder_execute /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRCore/internal_dwa_decoder.h:650:48 #1 0x55e590dae18d in DwaCompressor_uncompress /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRCore/internal_dwa_compressor.h:1132:30 #2 0x55e590da9960 in internal_exr_undo_dwaa /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRCore/internal_dwa.c:202:18 #3 0x55e590d42d03 in exr_uncompress_chunk /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRCore/compression.c:516:14 #4 0x55e590dc3132 in exr_decoding_run /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRCore/decoding.c:580:14 #5 0x55e590c7d78f in Imf_3_4::(anonymous namespace)::ScanLineProcess::run_decode(_priv_exr_context_t const*, int, Imf_3_4::FrameBuffer const*, int, int, std::vector<Imf_3_4::Slice, std::allocator<Imf_3_4::Slice>> const&) /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXR/ImfScanLineInputFile.cpp:585:23 #6 0x55e590c83ed7 in Imf_3_4::ScanLineInputFile::Data::readPixels(Imf_3_4::FrameBuffer const&, int, int) /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXR/ImfScanLineInputFile.cpp:499:21 #7 0x55e590c73c97 in Imf_3_4::ScanLineInputFile::readPixels(int, int) /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXR/ImfScanLineInputFile.cpp:306:12 #8 0x55e590c73c97 in Imf_3_4::InputFile::Data::readPixels(int, int) /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXR/ImfInputFile.cpp:446:20 #9 0x55e590c1f92f in Imf_3_4::InputFile::readPixels(int) /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXR/ImfInputFile.cpp:228:12 #10 0x55e590c1f92f in Imf_3_4::InputPart::readPixels(int) /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXR/ImfInputPart.cpp:70:11 #11 0x55e590c1f92f in bool Imf_3_4::(anonymous namespace)::readScanline<Imf_3_4::InputPart>(Imf_3_4::InputPart&, bool, bool) /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRUtil/ImfCheckFile.cpp:239:20 #12 0x55e590c1f92f in Imf_3_4::(anonymous namespace)::readMultiPart(Imf_3_4::MultiPartInputFile&, bool, bool) /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRUtil/ImfCheckFile.cpp:879:28 #13 0x55e590c155af in bool Imf_3_4::(anonymous namespace)::runChecks<char const*>(char const*&, bool, bool) /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRUtil/ImfCheckFile.cpp:1132:21 #14 0x55e590c155af in Imf_3_4::checkOpenEXRFile(char const*, bool, bool, bool) /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRUtil/ImfCheckFile.cpp:1796:19 #15 0x55e590ba5abe in exrCheck(char const*, bool, bool, bool, bool) /root/openexr/src/bin/exrcheck/main.cpp:96:16 #16 0x55e590ba6fbe in main /root/openexr/src/bin/exrcheck/main.cpp:164:29 #17 0x7f4259e2a1c9 in __libc_start_call_main csu/../sysdeps/npthttps://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu/-/issuesl/libc_start_call_main.h:58:16 #18 0x7f4259e2a28a in __libc_start_main csu/../csu/libc-start.c:360:3 #19 0x55e590ac67d4 in _start (/root/openexr/_build_afl_asan/bin/exrcheck+0x1d87d4) (BuildId: 49c2658b2f9ddef9) 0x52500000a110 is located 752 bytes after 9504-byte region [0x525000007900,0x525000009e20) allocated by thread T0 here: #0 0x55e590b61623 in malloc (/root/openexr/_build_afl_asan/bin/exrcheck+0x273623) (BuildId: 49c2658b2f9ddef9) #1 0x55e590db11b1 in LossyDctDecoder_execute /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRCore/internal_dwa_decoder.h:324:22 #2 0x55e590dae18d in DwaCompressor_uncompress /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRCore/internal_dwa_compressor.h:1132:30 #3 0x55e590da9960 in internal_exr_undo_dwaa /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRCore/internal_dwa.c:202:18 #4 0x55e590d42d03 in exr_uncompress_chunk /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRCore/compression.c:516:14 ``` ### Impact An attacker could crash the application and in some scenarios also leak data, such as sensitive information or memory addresses that might be used to bypass exploitation mitigations like ASLR.

CVE-2025-48072 Affected OpenEXR Versions

1 component(s)

Fixed Versions:

3.3.3

Product / Package	Ecosystem	Affected Versions	Fixed Version
OpenEXR pypi/OpenEXR	PyPI	≥ 3.3.2 < 3.3.3 All 1 versions 3.3.2	3.3.3

References

GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY

https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/openexr/security/advisories/GHSA-4r7w-q3jg-ff43

NVD — CVE-2025-48072 NVD

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-48072

Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT

https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/openexr/commit/2d09449427b13a05f7c31a98ab2c4347c23db361

OpenEXR Source Repository REPOSITORY

https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/openexr

OpenEXR Release RELEASE

https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/openexr/releases/tag/v3.3.3

OpenEXR Source Repository REPOSITORY

https://github.com/ShielderSec/poc/tree/main/CVE-2025-48072

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-48072?

CVE-2025-48072 is a security vulnerability in OpenEXR involving OpenEXR Out of Bounds Heap Read due to Bad Pointer Arithmetic in LossyDctDecoder_execute under CWE-125: Out-of-bounds Read.

Which OpenEXR versions are affected?

Affected versions include releases prior to 3.3.3 across affected packages: OpenEXR.

What version fixes CVE-2025-48072?

Upgrading to 3.3.3 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.

Is OpenEXR affected?

Yes, OpenEXR is affected in releases prior to 3.3.3. Upgrade your dependency to 3.3.3 or later.

What CWE is associated with CVE-2025-48072?

CVE-2025-48072 is classified under CWE-125: Out-of-bounds Read (The product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.).

How can I check PyPI dependencies for CVE-2025-48072?

Run the dependency tree command: 'pip show OpenEXR'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.

Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema

Normalized schema output

View Raw JSON

{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-4r7w-q3jg-ff43",
  "modified" : "2025-08-01T13:29:02Z",
  "published" : "2025-07-31T19:20:05Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2025-48072" ],
  "summary" : "OpenEXR Out of Bounds Heap Read due to Bad Pointer Arithmetic in LossyDctDecoder_execute",
  "details" : "### Summary\nThe OpenEXRCore code is vulnerable to a heap-based buffer overflow during a read operation due to bad pointer math when decompressing DWAA-packed scan-line EXR files with a maliciously forged chunk.\n\n### Details\n\nIn the `LossyDctDecoder_execute` function (from `src/lib/OpenEXRCore/internal_dwa_decoder.h`, when SSE2 is enabled), the following code is used to copy data from the chunks:\n\n```cpp\n// no-op conversion to linear\nfor (int y = 8 * blocky; y < 8 * blocky + maxY; ++y)\n{\n    __m128i* restrict dst = (__m128i *) chanData[comp]->_rows[y];\n    __m128i const * restrict src = (__m128i const *)&rowBlock[comp][(y & 0x7) * 8];\n\n    for (int blockx = 0; blockx < numFullBlocksX; ++blockx)\n    {\n        _mm_storeu_si128 (dst, _mm_loadu_si128 (src)); //\n\n        src += 8 * 8; // <--- si128 pointer incremented as a uint16_t\n        dst += 8;\n    }\n}\n```\n\nThe issue arises because the `src` pointer, which is a `si128` pointer, is incremented by `8*8`, as if it were a `uint16_t` pointer (64 * uint16_t == 128 bytes). In non-block aligned chunks (width/height not a multiple of 8), this can cause `src` to point past the boundaries of the chunk.\n\n### PoC\n\nIn order to reproduce the PoC with fidelity and avoid undefined behaviors, it is necessary to enable ASAN (and SSE2). Otherwise the out-of-bound read will not be detected until its side-effect causes a crash.\n\nNOTE: please download the `dwadecoder_crash.exr` file from the following link: \n\nhttps://github.com/ShielderSec/poc/tree/main/CVE-2025-48072\n\n1. Compile the `exrcheck` binary in a macOS or GNU/Linux machine with ASAN.\n2. Open the `dwadecoder_crash.exr` file with the following command:\n\n```\nexrcheck dwadecoder_crash.exr\n```\n\n3. Notice that `exrcheck` crashes with ASAN stack-trace.\n\n```\n==2297956==ERROR: AddressSanitizer: heap-buffer-overflow on address 0x52500000a110 at pc 0x55e590db7bf1 bp 0x7fff948bb110 sp 0x7fff948bb108\nREAD of size 16 at 0x52500000a110 thread T0\n    #0 0x55e590db7bf0 in LossyDctDecoder_execute /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRCore/internal_dwa_decoder.h:650:48\n    #1 0x55e590dae18d in DwaCompressor_uncompress /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRCore/internal_dwa_compressor.h:1132:30\n    #2 0x55e590da9960 in internal_exr_undo_dwaa /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRCore/internal_dwa.c:202:18\n    #3 0x55e590d42d03 in exr_uncompress_chunk /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRCore/compression.c:516:14\n    #4 0x55e590dc3132 in exr_decoding_run /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRCore/decoding.c:580:14\n    #5 0x55e590c7d78f in Imf_3_4::(anonymous namespace)::ScanLineProcess::run_decode(_priv_exr_context_t const*, int, Imf_3_4::FrameBuffer const*, int, int, std::vector<Imf_3_4::Slice, std::allocator<Imf_3_4::Slice>> const&) /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXR/ImfScanLineInputFile.cpp:585:23\n    #6 0x55e590c83ed7 in Imf_3_4::ScanLineInputFile::Data::readPixels(Imf_3_4::FrameBuffer const&, int, int) /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXR/ImfScanLineInputFile.cpp:499:21\n    #7 0x55e590c73c97 in Imf_3_4::ScanLineInputFile::readPixels(int, int) /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXR/ImfScanLineInputFile.cpp:306:12\n    #8 0x55e590c73c97 in Imf_3_4::InputFile::Data::readPixels(int, int) /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXR/ImfInputFile.cpp:446:20\n    #9 0x55e590c1f92f in Imf_3_4::InputFile::readPixels(int) /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXR/ImfInputFile.cpp:228:12\n    #10 0x55e590c1f92f in Imf_3_4::InputPart::readPixels(int) /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXR/ImfInputPart.cpp:70:11\n    #11 0x55e590c1f92f in bool Imf_3_4::(anonymous namespace)::readScanline<Imf_3_4::InputPart>(Imf_3_4::InputPart&, bool, bool) /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRUtil/ImfCheckFile.cpp:239:20\n    #12 0x55e590c1f92f in Imf_3_4::(anonymous namespace)::readMultiPart(Imf_3_4::MultiPartInputFile&, bool, bool) /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRUtil/ImfCheckFile.cpp:879:28\n    #13 0x55e590c155af in bool Imf_3_4::(anonymous namespace)::runChecks<char const*>(char const*&, bool, bool) /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRUtil/ImfCheckFile.cpp:1132:21\n    #14 0x55e590c155af in Imf_3_4::checkOpenEXRFile(char const*, bool, bool, bool) /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRUtil/ImfCheckFile.cpp:1796:19\n    #15 0x55e590ba5abe in exrCheck(char const*, bool, bool, bool, bool) /root/openexr/src/bin/exrcheck/main.cpp:96:16\n    #16 0x55e590ba6fbe in main /root/openexr/src/bin/exrcheck/main.cpp:164:29\n    #17 0x7f4259e2a1c9 in __libc_start_call_main csu/../sysdeps/npthttps://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu/-/issuesl/libc_start_call_main.h:58:16\n    #18 0x7f4259e2a28a in __libc_start_main csu/../csu/libc-start.c:360:3\n    #19 0x55e590ac67d4 in _start (/root/openexr/_build_afl_asan/bin/exrcheck+0x1d87d4) (BuildId: 49c2658b2f9ddef9)\n\n0x52500000a110 is located 752 bytes after 9504-byte region [0x525000007900,0x525000009e20)\nallocated by thread T0 here:\n    #0 0x55e590b61623 in malloc (/root/openexr/_build_afl_asan/bin/exrcheck+0x273623) (BuildId: 49c2658b2f9ddef9)\n    #1 0x55e590db11b1 in LossyDctDecoder_execute /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRCore/internal_dwa_decoder.h:324:22\n    #2 0x55e590dae18d in DwaCompressor_uncompress /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRCore/internal_dwa_compressor.h:1132:30\n    #3 0x55e590da9960 in internal_exr_undo_dwaa /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRCore/internal_dwa.c:202:18\n    #4 0x55e590d42d03 in exr_uncompress_chunk /root/openexr/src/lib/OpenEXRCore/compression.c:516:14\n```\n\n### Impact\nAn attacker could crash the application and in some scenarios also leak data, such as sensitive information or memory addresses that might be used to bypass exploitation mitigations like ASLR.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "OpenEXR"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "3.3.2"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "3.3.3"
      } ]
    } ],
    "versions" : [ "3.3.2" ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/openexr/security/advisories/GHSA-4r7w-q3jg-ff43"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-48072"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/openexr/commit/2d09449427b13a05f7c31a98ab2c4347c23db361"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/openexr"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/openexr/releases/tag/v3.3.3"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/ShielderSec/poc/tree/main/CVE-2025-48072"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-125" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2025-07-31T19:20:05Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2025-07-31T21:15:28Z"
  }
}

CVSS V4

N/A MODERATE

Attack Vector N/A

Attack Complexity N/A

Privileges Required N/A

User Interaction N/A

Scope N/A

Confidentiality N/A

Integrity N/A

Availability N/A

Vector String

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Advisory Metadata

Source ID: GHSA-4r7w-q3jg-ff43
Schema Version: 1.4.0
Published: 2025-07-31 19:20
Last Modified: 2025-08-01 13:29
Database Record File: advisories/github-reviewed/2025/07/GHSA-4r7w-q3jg-ff43/GHSA-4r7w-q3jg-ff43.json