Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
FreeImage versions before 1.18.0 have a NULL pointer dereference in FreeImage_CloneTag. In business terms, software that relies on vulnerable FreeImage code could crash when handling certain image tag data. The public sources do not provide CVSS, affected downstream products, or evidence of active exploitation.
Executive priority
Treat this as an availability-risk cleanup item unless exposed image-processing services are internet-facing or business-critical. Lack of severity data lowers certainty, not necessarily risk.
Technical view
CVE-2021-40264 is a NULL pointer dereference in FreeImage before 1.18.0, located in FreeImage_CloneTag in FreeImageTag.cpp. The described impact is consistent with availability risk, but the provided sources do not document a trigger condition, exploit maturity, or formal severity score.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where FreeImage before 1.18.0 is directly or transitively used to process untrusted images or metadata. The source bundle does not identify packaged distributions, applications, or CPEs.
Exploitation context
CISA KEV is false, and the provided sources do not state active exploitation. Public evidence is limited to the CVE record and the SourceForge bug reference, so exploitation likelihood cannot be assessed confidently.
Researcher notes
The record names a precise function and file but provides sparse technical detail. Do not assume remote code execution, active exploitation, or downstream product exposure from the supplied evidence.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory applications and libraries that include FreeImage.
- Prioritize systems processing externally supplied images or metadata.
- Move away from FreeImage versions before 1.18.0 where feasible.
- Check FreeImage maintainer or package guidance for supported fixed builds.
- Restrict untrusted image processing until remediation is verified.
Validation and detection
- Confirm the FreeImage version in source, packages, and bundled binaries.
- Review software bills of materials for transitive FreeImage usage.
- Identify services that pass untrusted files into FreeImage.
- Check logs for unexplained crashes in image-processing paths.
- Verify remediation against the vendor or package maintainer source.
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-2021-40264 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/335/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.