---
id: CVE-2026-53532
title: >-
  OpenEXR is the reference implementation and specification for the EXR image
  format, widely used in the motion picture industry
summary: >-
  OpenEXR is the reference implementation and specification for the EXR image
  format, widely used in the motion picture industry. In versions 3.4.0 through
  3.4.12, a crafted HTJ2K-compressed EXR file causes an unconditional process
  abort i…
severity: none
cwe:
  - CWE-617
published: '2026-08-24'
updated: '2026-09-09'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-09T21:07:31.353'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53532'
references:
  - url: 'https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/openexr/releases/tag/v3.4.13'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/openexr/security/advisories/GHSA-2f85-52wj-hc3c
    label: security-advisories@github.com
tags:
  - nvd
epss: 0.00445
epssPercentile: 0.36041
ingestedAt: '2026-09-09T21:22:45.549Z'
---

## Overview

OpenEXR is the reference implementation and specification for the EXR image format, widely used in the motion picture industry. In versions 3.4.0 through 3.4.12, a crafted HTJ2K-compressed EXR file causes an unconditional process abort in any application that calls exr_start_read() on untrusted input, resulting in denial of service. The crash is triggered by a QCD marker whose lower five bits are zero, which OpenEXR passes into the vendored OpenJPH library while constructing the codestream and evaluating its quantization delta parameters. OpenJPH uses an assertion rather than a recoverable error to validate those bits, so any invalid value calls abort() directly and cannot be intercepted by surrounding error handling, a problem compounded by OpenEXR wrapping only its internal HT header parser in error handling while leaving the later codestream read and construction calls unprotected. This issue has been resolved in version 3.4.13.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.