Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
OpenEXR can mishandle a specially crafted EXR image file during Huffman decoding. If a vulnerable application processes that file, the main documented business impact is availability, meaning a crash or service disruption rather than confirmed data theft or code execution.
Executive priority
Handle as a targeted library remediation item. Escalate priority if OpenEXR is used in customer-facing upload, media conversion, rendering, or automation workflows where crafted files could disrupt production services.
Technical view
The flaw is in OpenEXR hufDecode functionality and can trigger an undefined right-shift error when processing crafted input. The source bundle maps it to CWE-190 and states it is fixed in OpenEXR 3.0.0-beta. No CVSS vector or complete affected version range is provided.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely in applications, render pipelines, image services, or desktop tools that use OpenEXR to process untrusted EXR files. The provided data does not fully define vulnerable version ranges beyond identifying OpenEXR and a fix in 3.0.0-beta.
Exploitation context
The sources describe attacker control as passing a crafted file to something that processes it with OpenEXR. There is no KEV listing and no cited evidence of active exploitation in the provided bundle.
Researcher notes
Evidence supports a crafted-file availability issue in OpenEXR hufDecode with an upstream pull request and commit. The source data lacks CVSS, exploit maturity, and complete affected version boundaries, so package-level advisories should be checked before final exposure decisions.
Mitigation direction
- Identify software and services that include OpenEXR.
- Update OpenEXR to a vendor-supported fixed release or package.
- Prioritize systems that process user-supplied EXR files.
- Check distribution advisories for backported fixes.
- Restrict untrusted EXR processing where updates are delayed.
Validation and detection
- Inventory OpenEXR versions in applications and container images.
- Confirm whether deployed packages include the upstream fix.
- Review image-processing entry points accepting external EXR files.
- Check vendor advisories for platform-specific package status.
- Verify regression handling for malformed EXR files safely.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-190: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-20304 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://bugs.chromium.org/p/oss-fuzz/issues/detail?id=26229CVE reference
- https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/openexr/pull/849CVE reference
- https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/openexr/commit/51a92d67f53c08230734e74564c807043cbfe41eCVE reference
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1939157CVE reference
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-20304CVE reference
- GLSA-202210-31CVE reference · vendor-advisory
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Integer Overflow or Wraparound
Integer Overflow or Wraparound represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.