CVE-2021-32617

Denial of service in Exiv2

MEDIUM
5.5
CVSS Score
Published: May 17, 2021 at 12:00 AM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 03:53 AM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsFedoraExiv2

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Severity
MEDIUM5.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 1%

Description

Exiv2 is a command-line utility and C++ library for reading, writing, deleting, and modifying the metadata of image files. An inefficient algorithm (quadratic complexity) was found in Exiv2 versions v0.27.3 and earlier. The inefficient algorithm is triggered when Exiv2 is used to write metadata into a crafted image file. An attacker could potentially exploit the vulnerability to cause a denial of service, if they can trick the victim into running Exiv2 on a crafted image file. The bug is fixed in version v0.27.4. Note that this bug is only triggered when _writing_ the metadata, which is a less frequently used Exiv2 operation than _reading_ the metadata. For example, to trigger the bug in the Exiv2 command-line application, you need to add an extra command-line argument such as `rm`.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 0.27.4<= 0.27.3
Affected range stops below 0.27.4, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

CVSS

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-400

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