CVE-2026-33636 HIGH

CVE-2026-33636: LIBPNG has ARM NEON Palette Expansion Out-of-Bounds Read on AArch64

Vendor Pnggroup
Product libpng
Weakness CWE-125
Published March 26, 2026
Last update March 26, 2026

CVSS base score

7.6/10
Attack vector Network
Attack complexity Low
Privileges required None
User interaction Required
Confidentiality Low
Integrity Low

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H

What the vulnerability does

01Description

LIBPNG is a reference library for use in applications that read, create, and manipulate PNG (Portable Network Graphics) raster image files. In versions 1.6.36 through 1.6.55, an out-of-bounds read and write exists in libpng's ARM/AArch64 Neon-optimized palette expansion path. When expanding 8-bit paletted rows to RGB or RGBA, the Neon loop processes a final partial chunk without verifying that enough input pixels remain. Because the implementation works backward from the end of the row, the final iteration dereferences pointers before the start of the row buffer (OOB read) and writes expanded pixel data to the same underflowed positions (OOB write). This is reachable via normal decoding of attacker-controlled PNG input if Neon is enabled. Version 1.6.56 fixes the issue.

Key dates

02Disclosure timeline

March 26, 2026 CVE published
March 26, 2026 Record updated