Executive brief
GStreamer is a widely used multimedia framework for processing video and audio. A flaw in its H.266 video processing component allows a specially crafted video file to trigger an out-of-bounds memory read. This could allow an attacker to leak small amounts of sensitive information from the application's memory, potentially compromising user privacy or system security.
Technical details
An out-of-bounds read vulnerability exists in the GStreamer gst-plugins-bad package within the H.266/VVC VUI parameter parser. The root cause is a missing bounds check in the `gst_h266_parse_vui_parameters()` function in `gsth266parser.c`, where the `aspect_ratio_idc` field is used as an index into the `aspect_ratios[]` array. While the array contains only 17 entries, the 8-bit field allows values up to 255, leading to an 8-byte out-of-bounds read from the .data section. An attacker can exploit this by providing a malformed H.266 video stream, causing the leaked memory contents to be stored in video metadata (pixel-aspect-ratio), which can then be observed by downstream components or applications.
Affected products
- GStreamer gst-plugins-bad All versions containing H.266 parser
- Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 affected
- Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 affected
- Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 affected
Timeline
- 2026-06-22: disclosed: Reported by CoE-CNDS Lab to Red Hat Bugzilla
- 2026-06-23: advisory: NVD and Red Hat published advisory details