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Fencer Intel
medium 6.5

CVE-2011-2501 json

The png_format_buffer function in pngerror.c in libpng 1.0.x before 1.0.55, 1.2.x before 1.2.45, 1.4.x before 1.4.8, and 1.5.x before 1.5.4…

published 2011-07-17 15 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2011-2488

cvss
6.5
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
3.5%
EPSS 3.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 89%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The png_format_buffer function in pngerror.c in libpng 1.0.x before 1.0.55, 1.2.x before 1.2.45, 1.4.x before 1.4.8, and 1.5.x before 1.5.4 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via a crafted PNG image that triggers an out-of-bounds read during the copying of error-message data. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of a CVE-2004-0421 regression. NOTE: this is called an off-by-one error by some sources.

Patch / fix

  • libpng libpng 1.0.55, 1.2.45, 1.4.8, 1.5.4
  • libpng RHEL 6 2:1.2.46-1.el6_1

red hat advisories RHSA-2011:1105

  • libpng16 openSUSE Tumbleweed 1.6.26-1.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:10050-1

  • syslinux Azure Linux 3.0 6.04-11

azure linux advisories AZL-40745

Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2011-2501 updated cvss 5.0

libpng: regression of CVE-2004-0421 in 1.2.23+

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) libpng 1.2.46-1.el6_1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 6) libpng 1.2.46-1.el6_1
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:1105

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

3.48% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 89% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • sourceforge.net http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_name=BANLkTikrnU6FJNQYFvwmt78hwpgKPVRd1Q%40mail.gmail.com&forum_name=png-mng-implement referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD 2.0 4.3 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

Classification

Weakness

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.