Use After Free in Saitoha Libsixel

CVE-2026-33018

libsixel is a SIXEL encoder/decoder implementation derived from kmiya's sixel. Versions 1.8.7 and prior contain a Use-After-Free vulnerability via the load_gif() function in fromgif.c, where a single sixel_frame_t object is reused across all frames of an animated GIF and gif_init_frame() unconditionally frees and reallocates frame->pixels between frames without consulting the object's reference count. Because the public API explicitly provides sixel_frame_ref() to retain a frame and sixel_frame_get_pixels() to access the raw pixel buffer, a callback following this documented usage pattern will hold a dangling pointer after the second frame is decoded, resulting in a heap use-after-free confirmed by ASAN. Any application using sixel_helper_load_image_file() with a multi-frame callback to process user-supplied animated GIFs is affected, with a reliable crash as the minimum impact and potential for code execution. This issue has been fixed in version 1.8.7-r1.

Vulnerability class: Use-After-Free

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.0 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (8.0th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 8th percentile — 8.0% 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-2026-33018: held from 0.002 to 0.002.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: +0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-33018?
CVE-2026-33018 is a high-severity vulnerability in Saitoha Libsixel, classified under Use After Free. CVSS score: 7.0/10. Published 2026-04-14.
How severe is CVE-2026-33018?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.0 out of 10.