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High · 7.1 CVE-2026-33020 EUVD-2026-22744

libsixel: Integer Overflow in write_png_to_file() leads to Heap-based Buffer Overflow

Published Apr 14, 2026 · Updated Apr 15, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M

Description

libsixel is a SIXEL encoder/decoder implementation derived from kmiya's sixel. Versions 1.8.7 and prior contain an integer overflow which leads to a heap buffer overflow via sixel_frame_convert_to_rgb888() in frame.c, where allocation size and pointer offset computations for palettised images (PAL1, PAL2, PAL4) are performed using int arithmetic before casting to size_t. For images whose pixel count exceeds INT_MAX / 4, the overflow produces an undersized heap allocation for the conversion buffer and a negative pointer offset for the normalization sub-buffer, after which sixel_helper_normalize_pixelformat() writes the full image data starting from the invalid pointer, causing massive heap corruption confirmed by ASAN. An attacker providing a specially crafted large palettised PNG can corrupt the heap of the victim process, resulting in a reliable crash and potential arbitrary code execution.
This issue has been fixed in version 1.8.7-r1.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
saitoha libsixel < 1.8.7-r1 —

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 libsixel 1:1.8.7-r2-1 —
Debian 13 libsixel No fix yet —
Debian 12 libsixel No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 26.10 libsixel No fix yet —
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS libsixel No fix yet —
Ubuntu 25.10 libsixel No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS libsixel No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS libsixel No fix yet —
Show 3 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS libsixel No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS libsixel No fix yet —
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS libsixel No fix yet —

References