iccDEV Null Pointer Dereference Vulnerability in Profile XML Parsing Leading to Denial-of-Service

A null pointer dereference vulnerability has been identified in the iccDEV library, specifically in the function CIccProfileXml::ParseBasic(). This vulnerability exists in versions prior to 2.3.1.2 and can lead to a denial-of-service condition by causing the application to crash. The issue arises when the XML parser dereferences child nodes without checking for null values, allowing for memory access violations.

Impact

Exploitation of this vulnerability causes a runtime error by attempting to read memory from a null pointer, leading to a segmentation fault and application crash.

Reproduction

The vulnerability can be reproduced by using the 'iccFromXml' command-line tool included in the iccDEV package. The tool can be fed an XML file that contains an improperly formatted ICC profile. Specifically, the 'ProfileVersion' and 'ProfileSubClassVersion' fields should be left empty, which triggers the null pointer dereference when the XML is parsed.

Remediation

Users can upgrade to iccDEV version 2.3.1.2 or later, where this vulnerability has been fixed.