CVE-2026-40494SAIL has heap buffer overflow in TGA RLE decoder — raw packet path missing bounds check
- 9.8CriticalCVSS base score
- 0.33%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 73% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- YesPublic exploitsa reference or SSVC says so
Description
SAIL is a cross-platform library for loading and saving images with support for animation, metadata, and ICC profiles. Prior to commit 45d48d1f2e8e0d73e80bc1fd5310cb57f4547302, the TGA codec's RLE decoder in `tga.c` has an asymmetric bounds check vulnerability. The run-packet path (line 297) correctly clamps the repeat count to the remaining buffer space, but the raw-packet path (line 305-311) has no equivalent bounds check. This allows writing up to 496 bytes of attacker-controlled data past the end of a heap buffer. Commit 45d48d1f2e8e0d73e80bc1fd5310cb57f4547302 patches the issue.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: a proof of concept is public.
Timeline
ID reserved
By GitHub_M
- 5 days later
· 5 days later
Published
- 2 days later
· 2 days later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub_MCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | Critical9.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Deferred | 3.1 | Critical9.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.33% · top 73% of all CVEs (14 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: poc · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Critical 9.8.
Affected products
- affected < 45d48d1f2e8e0d73e80bc1fd5310cb57f4547302
References
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2026-23648 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-40494)Record last updated .