CVE-2026-108978: 
Linux Debian vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2026-108978 is a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in Samsung Opensource rlottie, a platform-independent standalone C++ library for rendering vector-based animations. The vulnerability allows a local unauthenticated attacker to trigger a buffer overflow via environment variables, resulting in a denial of service. It specifically affects the commit e57b094f03c39a751a1fded6f7d6c13f1ed95ec9 of the rlottie library. The vulnerability was published on October 11, 2026, with a patch made available via GitHub Advisory GHSA-c43m-q6qx-m6m9 on October 12, 2026. It carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (Medium) (GitHub Advisory).

The root cause is classified as CWE-122 (Heap-based Buffer Overflow), occurring in the vimageloader component of rlottie. Specifically, the createBitmap() function failed to validate bitmap allocation results before proceeding with pixel conversion — it did not check for non-positive dimensions or mismatched buffer geometry (width, height, stride) reported by the image decoder, allowing heap memory to be overwritten. The attack vector is local, requires no privileges, but does require user interaction, and can be triggered by manipulating environment variables that influence the library's image loading behavior. The fix, merged via pull request #609, adds pre-allocation checks that skip images when VBitmap cannot be successfully allocated (GitHub PR #609, GitHub Advisory).

Successful exploitation causes a crash of the rlottie process, resulting in a denial of service. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity — the CVSS metrics confirm availability as the sole impacted dimension. Applications embedding rlottie for Lottie animation rendering (e.g., Samsung devices, Tizen-based platforms, or third-party apps using the library) could be disrupted if an attacker can influence environment variables on the local system (GitHub Advisory).

There is no known public proof-of-concept exploit and no evidence of in-the-wild exploitation at this time. The vulnerability requires local access and user interaction, significantly limiting its attack surface. The EPSS score is approximately 0.148%, reflecting a low probability of exploitation in the near term. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog (GitHub Advisory).

The fix is available via the merged pull request #609 in the Samsung/rlottie GitHub repository, incorporated into the master branch as of September 30, 2026. Users and downstream projects should update to a version of rlottie that includes commit ea06d2f or later. As interim mitigations, restrict the ability of untrusted local users to manipulate environment variables on systems running rlottie, and limit local access to trusted users only. NixOS has also tracked this issue for patching in nixpkgs (GitHub PR #609, GitHub Advisory).