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.
- Last modified
- Where the record stands: published, rejected by its publisher, or superseded by another id.What do these mean? →
- published
- Whether CISA lists it in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog: proof that attackers are using it.What do these mean? →
- Not listed in CISA KEV
- How many real-world setups can hit the bug, from the vendor's advisory and CISA data. It does not know your setup.What do these mean? →
- Specific setups only
- Fix
- Fixed in 0.17.5
- Whether working attack code is public (Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei or GitHub). Public code makes attacks easier.What do these mean? →
- 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
- CVE published
- First seen by cve.now
Affected versions
- libass libass
From 0.17.4 · fixed in 0.17.5
References 3
GitHub · libass/libass
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