Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2023-0796 is a LibTIFF tiffcrop memory-read flaw. A crafted TIFF file can crash processing and may expose limited data. Business impact is mainly denial of service in workflows that ingest TIFF images from users, partners, scanners, or automated document pipelines.
Executive priority
Prioritize patching systems that process external TIFF files automatically. This is not sourced as actively exploited, but it can disrupt document and imaging workflows if reachable by untrusted input.
Technical view
LibTIFF through 4.4.0 contains an out-of-bounds read in tools/tiffcrop.c around line 3592. The CVE assigns CWE-125 and CVSS 3.1 score 6.8 with confidentiality low and availability high impact. The listed source fix is commit afaabc3e.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where LibTIFF 4.4.0 or earlier is installed and tiffcrop or dependent TIFF-processing workflows handle untrusted TIFF files. Packaged Linux systems and products embedding LibTIFF should be checked against their vendor advisories.
Exploitation context
The bundle does not cite active exploitation, and KEV is false. Exploitation requires a crafted TIFF reaching vulnerable processing. The practical risk rises for internet-facing upload, conversion, imaging, archival, or document-ingestion services that automatically process TIFF files.
Researcher notes
Evidence supports an out-of-bounds read in tiffcrop with denial-of-service impact and a source-level fix commit. The bundle does not prove remote service exposure by default, public exploitation, or universal product impact beyond listed LibTIFF and vendor advisories.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade LibTIFF using your operating system or product vendor security update.
- For source builds, ensure the code includes commit afaabc3e or a later fixed release.
- Limit TIFF processing from untrusted sources until affected systems are patched.
- Run image conversion jobs with least privilege and resource limits.
- Check Debian, Gentoo, NetApp, and other vendor advisories for product-specific guidance.
Validation and detection
- Inventory installed LibTIFF versions and products embedding LibTIFF.
- Identify services or batch jobs that invoke tiffcrop or process TIFF files.
- Confirm vulnerable systems are not running LibTIFF 4.4.0 or earlier without the fix.
- Verify vendor package versions match the relevant security advisory.
- Review recent TIFF-processing crashes for availability impact indicators.
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-125: 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-2023-0796 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
- Medium
- CVSS
- 6.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H
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 vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H2.54.2Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
6.8MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://gitlab.com/libtiff/libtiff/-/commit/afaabc3e50d4e5d80a94143f7e3c997e7e410f68CVE reference
- https://gitlab.com/libtiff/libtiff/-/issues/499CVE reference
- https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cves/-/blob/master/2023/CVE-2023-0796.jsonCVE reference
- [debian-lts-announce] 20230221 [SECURITY] [DLA 3333-1] tiff security updateCVE reference · mailing-list
- DSA-5361CVE reference · vendor-advisory
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230316-0003/CVE reference
- GLSA-202305-31CVE 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.
Out-of-bounds Read
Out-of-bounds Read represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.