FFmpeg through 8.1.2, fixed in commit 8670835, contains an information disclosure vulnerability in the LCL/ZLIB video decoder that allows attackers to expose uninitialized heap memory by supplying a valid zlib stream that inflates to fewer bytes than the expected frame size. The zlib_decomp() function in lcldec.c treats short decompression as non-fatal and continues to the RGB24 conversion path, which copies a full frame's worth of rows from the allocation buffer using original frame dimensions, causing uninitialized heap contents including pointer-derived allocator bytes to be copied into the attacker-observable AVFrame output and potentially defeating ASLR in long-lived media processing services.
CVE-2026-66038
This medium-severity CVE scores 6.5 under the CNA's CVSS (NVD's own analysis pending). EPSS exploit-prediction score not yet available (the EPSS model rescores nightly; freshly-published CVEs typically appear within 48 hours). GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).
- Lower severity and no public exploit yet
No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.
- CVSS v3
- 6.5
- EG Score
- 6.5(low)
- EG Risk
- 34(Track)EG Risk 34/100SSVC: Track
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).
How it’s computedSeverity65% × 45%Exploitation0% × 40%Automatability30% × 15%Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence. - EPSS
- —
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
July 24, 2026
Last Modified
July 24, 2026
Advisory Details (3)
Auto-updated Jul 25, 2026FFmpeg LCL/ZLIB Video Decoder Information Disclosure via lcldec.c | Advisories | VulnCheck
https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/ffmpeg-lcl-zlib-video-decoder-information-disclosure-via-lcldec-c#23626 - avcodec/lcldec: zero the not-decoded tail to avoid heap disclosure - FFmpeg/FFmpeg - FFmpeg Forgejo
https://code.ffmpeg.org/FFmpeg/FFmpeg/pulls/23626avcodec/lcldec: zero the not-decoded tail to avoid heap disclosure · e7cbfd1c50 - FFmpeg/FFmpeg - FFmpeg Forgejo
https://code.ffmpeg.org/FFmpeg/FFmpeg/commit/e7cbfd1c507b57a806a5825b87d609963e862c8cVendor Advisories for CVE-2026-66038(1)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 2× in last 7d / 2× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
- 2026-07-24 20:12 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-24 20:12 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked
Frequently asked(4)
What is CVE-2026-66038?
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What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-66038?
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Dependency Blast Radius
Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2026-66038
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2026-66038?
EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.