CVE Intelligence
Medium Denial of service exploit reference

CVE-2026-59156 — OpenImageIO: Unbounded recursion in FITS header parser leads to stack overflow

OpenImageIO is a toolset for reading, writing, and manipulating image files of any image file format relevant to VFX / animation. Prior to 3.0.20.0, 3.1.15.0, and 3.2.0.3-beta1, A crafted fits stream containing consecutive 2880-byte header blocks without the mandatory end keyword makes fitsinput::read_fits_header() call itself without a depth bound. repeated recursive parsing exhausts the application stack, resulting in denial of service. The affected implementation is identified by src/fits.imageio/fitsinput.cpp, FitsInput::read_fits_header(), END keyword, and 2880-byte FITS header blocks, which define the relevant source path, functions, state, and trigger. This issue is fixed in versions 3.0.20.0, 3.1.15.0, and 3.2.0.3-beta1.

Published Sep 18, 2026 · Updated Oct 15, 2026 · Sources: NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP · CNA: GitHub_M

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

No exploitation signal in the sources consulted so far.
How the score was calculated
  • Technical severity (medium)+3
  • CISA SSVC: exploitation "poc"+5

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation
Not confirmed
Not in CISA KEV — an absence of record, not proof it is unexploited.
EPSS FIRST
—
No EPSS score.
Affects
AcademySoftwareFoundation
OpenImageIO and 1 more
CVSS base
6.5
Medium · 2 source(s)

CISA SSVC assessment CISA

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

Exploitation
Proof of concept
none · proof-of-concept · active
Automatable
No
can an attacker script the kill-chain steps
Technical impact
Partial
partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

  • Documented patch — github.com (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
  • Documented patch — github.com (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
  • Documented mitigation — github.com (NIST National Vulnerability Database)

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

  1. Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (AcademySoftwareFoundation OpenImageIO, Openimageio Openimageio).
  2. The attack is network-based and needs no privileges: restrict exposure (ACLs, VPN, WAF) until patched.
  3. Apply the fixed version or the patch documented under Remediation.
  4. Exploitation requires user interaction: tighten email/web filtering and warn affected users.
  5. Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (denial of service), errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

VendorProductVersionsStatusSource
AcademySoftwareFoundation OpenImageIO version < 3.0.20.0version >= 3.1.0.0, < 3.1.15.0version >= 3.2.0.0-dev, < 3.2.0.3-beta1 Vulnerable CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Openimageio Openimageio < 3.0.20.0≥ 3.1.0.0 and ≤ 3.1.15.0version 3.2.0.0-devversion 3.2.0.2-dev Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

ScoreVersionSeverityExpl.ImpactScored by
6.5 CVSS 3.1 Medium 2.8 3.6 security-advisories@github.com via NIST National Vulnerability Database
6.5 CVSS 3.1 Medium — — GitHub_M via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H (score shown at the top: security-advisories@github.com)

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-674 · Uncontrolled Recursion

Other CVEs with this weakness →

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

  • Prioritize edge telemetry for the network-reachable component (proxy, WAF, IDS/IPS).
  • Track CPU/memory spikes and availability drops correlated with request patterns.
web/proxy/WAF logsnetwork IDS/IPSresource metrics

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

  • 2026
  • Affected products added · academysoftwarefoundation/openimageio
    Oct 15, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • SSVC assessment updated
    Oct 15, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • Record published
    Oct 15, 2026
  • Fix documented
    Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • CVSS changed · 6.5
    Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Source status changed · → Analyzed
    Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Record created in this database
    Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • CVE published
    Sep 18, 2026 · GitHub_M

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

  • 1× Official description updated · Oct 15, 2026 – Oct 15, 2026

References

5 on the record

Elsewhere on this site

AcademySoftwareFoundation
every CVE for this vendor
Denial of service
same class
CWE-674
other pages naming this weakness

Related CVEs (same products)

  • CVE-2026-67549 OpenImageIO: TIFF 1-bit CMYK bit conversion heap out-of-bounds write 27d
  • CVE-2026-63635 OpenImageIO: PSD RawColor invalid color mode causes global out-of-bounds read and allocation DoS 27d
  • CVE-2026-63638 OpenImageIO: Cineon invalid bit depth heap out-of-bounds write 27d
  • CVE-2026-65970 OpenImageIO: TIFF multithreaded scanline read use-after-scope in `TIFFInput::read_native_scanlines` 27d
  • CVE-2026-65969 OpenImageIO: TGA-to-GIF palette split signed overflow causes SIGSEGV 27d
  • CVE-2026-59956 OpenImageIO: Heap-buffer-overread in IffInput::readimg() when ZBUFFER flag is set 27d

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

  • No FIRST EPSS score.
  • No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
  • No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
  • No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2026-59156 is "OpenImageIO: Unbounded recursion in FITS header parser leads to stack overflow", rated Medium. It affects OpenImageIO (AcademySoftwareFoundation); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 6.5 describes technical severity. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

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