Out-of-bounds Read in Libpng

CVE-2026-22801

LIBPNG is a reference library for use in applications that read, create, and manipulate PNG (Portable Network Graphics) raster image files. From 1.6.26 to 1.6.53, there is an integer truncation in the libpng simplified write API functions png_write_image_16bit and png_write_image_8bit causes heap buffer over-read when the caller provides a negative row stride (for bottom-up image layouts) or a stride exceeding 65535 bytes. The bug was introduced in libpng 1.6.26 (October 2016) by casts added to silence compiler warnings on 16-bit systems. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.6.54.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.8 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.001 (2.2th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 2nd percentile — 2.2% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-22801: held from 0.001 to 0.001.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.001 · newest: 0.001 · change: +0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-22801?
CVE-2026-22801 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Libpng, classified under Out-of-bounds Read. CVSS score: 6.8/10. Published 2026-01-12.
How severe is CVE-2026-22801?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.8 out of 10.