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High · 7.4 CVE-2026-44636 EUVD-2026-30409

libsixel: integer overflow in encoder

Published May 14, 2026 · Updated May 16, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M

Description

libsixel is a SIXEL encoder/decoder implementation derived from kmiya's sixel. From to 1.8.7-r1, signed integer overflow in sixel_encode_highcolor's allocation size calculation can lead to a heap buffer overflow. The public sixel_encode entry point validates only that width and height are greater than zero, with no upper bound. width and height are multiplied as plain int when computing the allocation size for paletted_pixels and normalized_pixels. Any caller that asks libsixel to encode a pixel buffer with width times height greater than INT_MAX (about 2.15 billion) will hit a wrapped allocation size; under the right wrap, the malloc succeeds with a buffer much smaller than the encoder expects, and the encoder writes past the end of the heap allocation. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.8.7-r2.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
saitoha libsixel >= 1.4.4, < 1.8.7-r2 —

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 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Tumbleweed libsixel 1.10.5-3.1 openSUSE-SU-2026:12420-1

Advisories 1

References