---
id: CVE-2026-54604
title: OpenSlide is a C library for reading whole slide image files
summary: >-
  OpenSlide is a C library for reading whole slide image files. Prior to 4.0.1,
  a behavior change in libtiff 4.7.1 causes the indirect TIFF tile path in
  src/openslide-decode-tiff.c and _openslide_tiff_read_tile() to request a
  full-height d…
severity: medium
cvss: 5.3
cvssVector: 'CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N'
cwe:
  - CWE-758
  - CWE-908
vendor: openslide
product: openslide
affected:
  - openslide < 4.0.1
published: '2026-09-17'
updated: '2026-09-18'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-18T20:17:16.747'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-54604'
references:
  - url: 'https://github.com/openslide/openslide-bin/issues/433'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/openslide/openslide-bin/pull/436'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/openslide/openslide/commit/a4f0fb0ec462edcea97ff22288f606ac6cd370f5
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/openslide/openslide/pull/706'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/openslide/openslide/releases/tag/v4.0.1'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/openslide/openslide/security/advisories/GHSA-f734-jv98-5677
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://gitlab.com/libtiff/libtiff/-/work_items/791'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-09-18T20:06:32.059828Z'
cvssSource: cna
epss: 0.003
epssPercentile: 0.22828
ingestedAt: '2026-09-17T21:29:16.983Z'
---

## Overview

OpenSlide is a C library for reading whole slide image files. Prior to 4.0.1, a behavior change in libtiff 4.7.1 causes the indirect TIFF tile path in src/openslide-decode-tiff.c and _openslide_tiff_read_tile() to request a full-height destination for a partial bottom tile row, allowing uninitialized heap memory to enter pixel data returned by openslide_read_region(). A crafted but valid slide can trigger the issue in TIFF-based formats other than Hamamatsu NDPI when a network service renders attacker-provided slides. Successful extraction depends on pixel transparency handling and recompression, OpenSlide with libtiff 4.7.0 or earlier is not affected, and official binary builds 4.0.0.10 and 4.0.0.11 are affected. This issue is fixed in OpenSlide 4.0.1 and official binary build 4.0.0.12.

## Remediation

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