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CVE-2026-61626EUVD-2026-114006

libass: Out-of-bounds bit clears for negative Matroska ReadOrder values

Affects libass 0.17.4 when Matroska streams are loaded through ass_process_chunk with read-order checking on and events are later pruned. Fixed in 0.17.5.

Published
Last modified
published
Not listed in CISA KEV
Specific setups only
Fix
Fixed in 0.17.5
None on Exploit-DB, Metasploit or GitHub

Summary

libass, a portable subtitle renderer for ASS/SSA subtitle files, is affected when it processes malicious Matroska streams, potentially allowing an attacker to cause a denial of service (crash) by clearing memory bits near a NULL pointer during event pruning. More extensive exploitation is considered theoretical and highly constrained on uncommon systems.

Summarized by anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5. Verify details against the original sources.

Read the original description

libass is a portable subtitle renderer for the ASS/SSA (Advanced Substation Alpha/Substation Alpha) subtitle format. From 0.17.4 until 0.17.5, libass event pruning does not guard negative Matroska `ReadOrder` values, allowing an attacker to clear arbitrarily many bits to zero at attacker-controlled positions near the NULL pointer. Exploitation requires a malicious Matroska stream loaded through `ass_process_chunk`, enabled read-order checking, and later pruning of the malicious events. Read-order checking is enabled by default unless `ass_set_check_readorder` is called with zero; pruning must occur explicitly through `ass_prune_events` or through automatic pruning previously enabled with `ass_configure_prune`. On common systems with arithmetic right shift, 32-bit int values, the upper address region reserved to the kernel, and matching binary/kernel architecture, the expected consequence is denial of service. More extensive exploitation on uncommon systems is theoretical and strongly constrained by the target addresses, bit-clearing-only mutation, and ASLR. This issue is fixed in version 0.17.5.

Timeline

  1. CVE published
  2. First seen by cve.now

Affected versions

  • libass libass

    From 0.17.4 · fixed in 0.17.5

References 3

GitHub · libass/libass

FAQ

Questions about CVE-2026-61626

What does this mean?

Events with negative Matroska ReadOrder values can cause bits to be cleared at positions outside the intended memory, near a NULL pointer. The advisory says this should not lead to anything worse than denial of service.Source: github.com

Am I affected, and how do I check?

libass 0.17.4 is listed as affected, up to but not including 0.17.5. The bug needs a Matroska stream loaded via ass_process_chunk, read-order checking enabled (the default unless ass_set_check_readorder is called with zero), and pruning run through ass_prune_events or an automatic prune enabled with ass_configure_prune.Source: github.com

Is it being exploited?

It is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and CISA's SSVC assessment does not mark exploitation as active. That does not mean it has not been attacked: vendors and researchers can report attacks before CISA lists them. No public exploit code is tracked.Source: cve.now feed data