CVE-2026-33018
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…
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.19%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
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.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.0 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 0.19% probability · 9th percentile
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-416
- Affected
- saitoha/libsixel
- Source
- security-advisories@github.com
References
- https://github.com/saitoha/libsixel/releases/tag/v1.8.7-r1Release Notes
- https://github.com/saitoha/libsixel/security/advisories/GHSA-w46f-jr9f-rgvpExploit, Vendor Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.