CVE-2026-42216: AcademySoftwareFoundation OpenEXR out-of-bounds read in IDManifest

CVE-2026-42216 · Severity: critical · CVSS 9.1 · Published 2026-05-07

OpenEXR is a standard image file format used extensively in the motion picture industry for high-quality visual effects and animation. A security flaw in how the library processes these image files could allow an attacker to crash applications or potentially steal sensitive information from a computer's memory. This occurs when a specially crafted, malicious image file is opened by a vulnerable application.

Technologies: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9. Vendors: Red Hat.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2026-42216 exploited in the wild?
No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-42216 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2026-42216?
Critical severity, with a CVSS score of 9.1, published 7 May 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?
AcademySoftwareFoundation OpenEXR 3.0.0 to 3.2.8, 3.3.0 to 3.3.10, 3.4.0 to 3.4.10; Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6; Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9; Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.
Is there a fix for CVE-2026-42216?
No fixed version is recorded yet. Check the vendor's advisory in the references below. If you run it, Junglewise drafts a mitigation that fits your setup and applies it once you approve, with senior security engineers behind it.
How is CVE-2026-42216 attacked?
It is attacked over the network, in a software library.
Am I affected by CVE-2026-42216?
Check whether you run Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

Technical details

An out-of-bounds read exists in the IDManifest::init() function of OpenEXR due to improper handling of prefix-compressed strings. When reconstructing strings, the code fails to validate that a string has at least two bytes before attempting to read a 2-byte prefix length if the preceding string exceeded 255 bytes. In production builds, this results in a hardware-level heap out-of-bounds read. An attacker can leverage this to cause a denial of service (via std::out_of_range exception) or leak adjacent heap memory by influencing the common prefix length used in subsequent string reconstruction. The vulnerability is patched in versions 3.2.9, 3.3.11, and 3.4.11.

Affected products

  • AcademySoftwareFoundation OpenEXR 3.0.0 to 3.2.8, 3.3.0 to 3.3.10, 3.4.0 to 3.4.10
  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10

Timeline

  • 2026-05-05: advisory: GitHub Advisory GHSA-65j8-95g9-jgj4 published
  • 2026-05-07: disclosed: CVE-2026-42216 published

References

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