Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
FreeImage versions before 1.18.0 have a stack exhaustion flaw in RAW image validation. If an application uses FreeImage to process untrusted images, a crafted file could plausibly crash or disrupt that processing path. The public sources do not provide a CVSS score or evidence of active exploitation.
Executive priority
Treat this as a targeted availability risk. It deserves prompt remediation where FreeImage processes customer-supplied images, but the sources do not support emergency escalation without exposed use or exploitation evidence.
Technical view
CVE-2021-40262 is reported as stack exhaustion in FreeImage before 1.18.0, specifically the Validate function in PluginRAW.cpp. The available record does not include CWE, CVSS, detailed affected CPEs, or vendor remediation text beyond the version boundary.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely in products, web services, batch pipelines, or desktop tools that embed FreeImage before 1.18.0 and accept RAW or other image files from untrusted users. Systems not using FreeImage, or only processing trusted local images, have lower practical exposure.
Exploitation context
The bundle marks this CVE as not in CISA KEV, and no provided source states active exploitation. The available evidence supports a denial-of-service concern, not data theft, privilege escalation, or remote code execution.
Researcher notes
The public record is sparse: no CVSS, CWE, CPE list, or detailed exploitability analysis is included. Validation should focus on dependency presence, version lineage, and whether untrusted RAW images reach FreeImage validation code.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory applications and dependencies that include FreeImage.
- Prioritize systems that process externally supplied image files.
- Move off FreeImage versions before 1.18.0 where package guidance supports it.
- Check upstream or distribution advisories for backported fixes.
- Restrict untrusted image uploads until remediation is confirmed.
- Monitor image-processing crashes as potential indicators.
Validation and detection
- Review SBOMs, package manifests, and bundled libraries for FreeImage.
- Confirm detected FreeImage versions are not before 1.18.0.
- Identify routes, jobs, or tools that parse user-supplied images.
- Check logs for recurring crashes in RAW image validation paths.
- Verify vendor or distribution advisories for fixed package status.
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.
CVE-2021-40262 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://sourceforge.net/p/freeimage/bugs/338/CVE reference
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.