CVE-2026-8813: Exifreader Denial of Service Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-h64w-w9pr-82m4
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CVSS 7.5
CWE-1284
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2026-8813 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) denial of service vulnerability (CWE-1284: Improper Validation of Specified Quantity in Input) affecting Exifreader libraries in the npm ecosystem. The issue involves exifreader is vulnerable to denial of service via crafted icc `mluc` tag. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 4.39.0.

CVE-2026-8813 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2026-8813
GHSA Identifier GHSA-h64w-w9pr-82m4
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-1284: Improper Validation of Specified Quantity in Input
Affected Product Exifreader
Package Ecosystem npm
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2026-8813

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

exifreader fixed: 4.39.0 
npm install exifreader@4.39.0
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

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

npm ls exifreader

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Node.js application is affected by CVE-2026-8813, inspect your project dependencies using npm:

npm ls exifreader

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Exifreader in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 4.39.0), your application is affected.

Note: The npm ls exifreader command inspects dependencies declared in your package.json and lockfile; it does not perform automated runtime dynamic scanning.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-1284: Improper Validation of Specified Quantity in Input, where the product receives input that is expected to specify a quantity (such as size or length), but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the quantity has the required properties. In Exifreader, 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

### Impact When parsing an image with an embedded ICC profile that contains a crafted `multiLocalizedUnicodeType` (`mluc`) tag, ExifReader can be made to allocate memory proportional to attacker-controlled fields in the tag rather than to the actual size of the input. Processing such an image causes excessive memory consumption and can terminate the host process (out-of-memory). Any application that calls `ExifReader.load()` on untrusted images, for example, user uploads in a web service, is affected. ICC profiles are carried in JPEG, TIFF, PNG, HEIC, AVIF, JPEG XL, and WebP, so the issue is reachable from any of those formats. ### Patches Fixed in `exifreader@4.39.0`. Upgrade with: npm install exifreader@latest Bower users consume the bundled `dist/` files from this repository, and the same fix is committed there. ### Workarounds If upgrading is not immediately possible, configure a [custom build](https://github.com/mattiasw/ExifReader#configure-a-custom-build) that excludes the `icc` module so that ICC parsing (and therefore this code path) is skipped entirely. ### Resources - Patch: https://github.com/mattiasw/ExifReader/commit/c9d88b67e127b2dcc7b46e328df468257fb2dc30

CVE-2026-8813 Affected Exifreader Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
4.39.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
exifreader
npm/exifreader
npm
≥ 2.10.0
< 4.39.0
4.39.0

References

GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/mattiasw/ExifReader/security/advisories/GHSA-h64w-w9pr-82m4
NVD — CVE-2026-8813 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-8813
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/mattiasw/ExifReader/commit/c9d88b67e127b2dcc7b46e328df468257fb2dc30
Exifreader Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/mattiasw/ExifReader
Exifreader Security Information SECURITY
https://security.snyk.io/vuln/SNYK-JS-EXIFREADER-16689335

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-8813?
CVE-2026-8813 is a security vulnerability in Exifreader involving ExifReader is vulnerable to denial of service via crafted ICC `mluc` tag under CWE-1284: Improper Validation of Specified Quantity in Input.
Which Exifreader versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 4.39.0 across affected packages: exifreader.
What version fixes CVE-2026-8813?
Upgrading to 4.39.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is exifreader affected?
Yes, exifreader is affected in releases prior to 4.39.0. Upgrade your dependency to 4.39.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-8813?
CVE-2026-8813 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2026-8813?
CVE-2026-8813 is classified under CWE-1284: Improper Validation of Specified Quantity in Input (The product receives input that is expected to specify a quantity (such as size or length), but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the quantity has the required properties.).
How can I check npm dependencies for CVE-2026-8813?
Run the dependency tree command: 'npm ls exifreader'. 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-h64w-w9pr-82m4",
  "modified" : "2026-07-17T16:51:54Z",
  "published" : "2026-05-29T17:58:37Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-8813" ],
  "summary" : "ExifReader is vulnerable to denial of service via crafted ICC `mluc` tag",
  "details" : "### Impact\n\nWhen parsing an image with an embedded ICC profile that contains a crafted `multiLocalizedUnicodeType` (`mluc`) tag, ExifReader can be made to allocate memory proportional to attacker-controlled fields in the tag rather than to\nthe actual size of the input. Processing such an image causes excessive memory consumption and can terminate the host process (out-of-memory).\n\nAny application that calls `ExifReader.load()` on untrusted images, for example, user uploads in a web service, is affected. ICC profiles are carried in JPEG, TIFF, PNG, HEIC, AVIF, JPEG XL, and WebP, so the issue is reachable from any of those formats.\n\n### Patches\n\nFixed in `exifreader@4.39.0`. Upgrade with:\n\n    npm install exifreader@latest\n\nBower users consume the bundled `dist/` files from this repository, and the same fix is committed there.\n\n### Workarounds\n\nIf upgrading is not immediately possible, configure a [custom build](https://github.com/mattiasw/ExifReader#configure-a-custom-build) that excludes the `icc` module so that ICC parsing (and therefore this code path) is skipped entirely.\n\n### Resources\n\n- Patch: https://github.com/mattiasw/ExifReader/commit/c9d88b67e127b2dcc7b46e328df468257fb2dc30",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  }, {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "exifreader"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "2.10.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "4.39.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/mattiasw/ExifReader/security/advisories/GHSA-h64w-w9pr-82m4"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-8813"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/mattiasw/ExifReader/commit/c9d88b67e127b2dcc7b46e328df468257fb2dc30"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/mattiasw/ExifReader"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://security.snyk.io/vuln/SNYK-JS-EXIFREADER-16689335"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-1284" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-05-29T17:58:37Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-05-19T07:16:30Z"
  }
}