CVE-2020-29384
Description
An issue was discovered in PNGOUT 2020-01-15. When compressing a crafted PNG file, it encounters an integer overflow.
AI Insight
LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.
PNGOUT 2020-01-15 crashes due to an integer overflow when processing a crafted PNG file, leading to a segmentation fault.
Vulnerability
PNGOUT version 2020-01-15, as distributed for Linux, BSD, and macOS [1][2], contains an integer overflow vulnerability that is triggered when compressing a specially crafted PNG file. The issue occurs during processing of the PNG file's data, leading to a crash. This affects all platform variants of that version, including the statically-linked binaries [2].
Exploitation
An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by providing a maliciously crafted PNG file to the PNGOUT utility. The user must execute PNGOUT with the crafted file as an argument. No special network position or authentication is required beyond the ability to deliver the file to the target system. A proof of concept (PoC) is publicly available that demonstrates the crash by running ./pngout crash.png [3].
Impact
Successful exploitation results in a segmentation fault (denial of service), causing the PNGOUT program to terminate abnormally. This is a crash-level impact; currently no evidence of code execution or data disclosure has been reported. The tool becomes unusable when processing the malformed input.
Mitigation
No official patched version has been released by the vendor as of the publication date. The source code is not public, and the original Windows versions may also be affected [1][2]. Until a fix is provided, users should avoid processing untrusted PNG files with PNGOUT 2020-01-15. There is no workaround other than not using the tool with untrusted inputs.
AI Insight generated on May 26, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.
Affected products
2- PNGOUT/PNGOUTdescription
Patches
0No patches discovered yet.
Vulnerability mechanics
Root cause
"Integer overflow when processing a crafted PNG file during compression."
Attack vector
An attacker provides a specially crafted PNG file to PNGOUT. When PNGOUT attempts to compress this file, an integer overflow occurs during processing, leading to memory corruption and a segmentation fault [ref_id=1]. The attack requires no authentication and is triggered simply by running PNGOUT on the malicious file [ref_id=1].
Affected code
The advisory does not specify the exact function or file path within PNGOUT where the integer overflow occurs. The crash is triggered when PNGOUT processes a crafted PNG file during compression [ref_id=1].
What the fix does
No patch or fix has been published for this vulnerability. The advisory does not include any remediation guidance from the vendor [ref_id=1]. Users should avoid processing untrusted PNG files with PNGOUT 2020-01-15 until a fix is available.
Preconditions
- inputThe attacker must supply a crafted PNG file that triggers the integer overflow.
- configThe victim must run PNGOUT 2020-01-15 on the malicious file.
Reproduction
1. Download the PoC file: `wget https://github.com/mmmdzz/PoC/raw/main/crash.png` 2. Download PNGOUT 2020-01-15 for Linux or install via Homebrew on macOS. 3. Run `./pngout crash.png` (Linux) or `pngout crash.png` (macOS). 4. Observe the segmentation fault (core dumped) [ref_id=1].
Generated on May 25, 2026. Inputs: CWE entries + fix-commit diffs from this CVE's patches. Citations validated against bundle.
References
3- advsys.net/ken/utils.htmmitrex_refsource_MISC
- www.jonof.id.au/kenutils.htmlmitrex_refsource_MISC
- gist.github.com/mmmdzz/03df5177afd04b32ac190eb7907f3834mitrex_refsource_MISC
News mentions
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