Track vulnerabilities like this one. Sign up free to get alerted when software you use is affected.

CVE-2020-35636: CGAL 5.1.1 can run malicious code from crafted file

CVE-2020-35636 · published 5 years ago

Summary

The CGAL library version 5.1.1 used on Debian can be tricked by a specially malformed file into reading data outside its intended memory area, which may let an attacker cause the program to execute arbitrary code. This risk affects any application that uses the Nef polygon‑parsing functions of CGAL. Apply the latest security update for the Debian cgal package or upgrade to a newer CGAL version that includes the fix.

What to do

Update debian cgal to version 5.2-3.

Affected software

Ecosystem	Vendor	Product	Affected versions
Debian:12	debian	cgal	< 5.2-3 Fix: upgrade to 5.2-3
Debian:13	debian	cgal	< 5.2-3 Fix: upgrade to 5.2-3
Debian:14	debian	cgal	< 5.2-3 Fix: upgrade to 5.2-3
–	cgal	computational_geometry_algorithms_library	5.1.1 `cpe:2.3:a:cgal:computational_geometry_algorithms_library:5.1.1:::::::*`
–	debian	debian_linux	10.0 `cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:::::::*`

Original advisory text

A code execution vulnerability exists in the Nef polygon-parsing functionality of CGAL libcgal CGAL-5.1.1 in Nef_S2/SNC_io_parser.h SNC_io_parser::read_sface() sfh->volume() OOB read. A specially crafted malformed file can lead to an out-of-bounds read and type confusion, which could lead to code execution. An attacker can provide malicious input to trigger this vulnerability.

References

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-35636 Vendor Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/12/msg00011.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202305-34
https://talosintelligence.com/vulnerability_reports/TALOS-2020-1225 Exploit Third Party Advisory

Fix within

Internet-facing 3 days

Internal 60 days

Not known to be exploited
Can be exploited automatically
Gives an attacker full control

Severity

9.8 Critical

Exploitation

3% chance of attack within 30 days

Type

CWE-129Improper Validation of Array Index

CWE-125Out-of-bounds Read

CWE-843Type Confusion

Timeline

Published4 Mar 2021

Updated4 Nov 2026

First seen11 Sep 2026

Sources

DEBIAN-CVE-2020-35636 · OSV

CVE-2020-35636 · NVD

Track software like this

Free during beta