vulnerability / NVI-00016099 / Revision 2
vLLM: image EXIF Rotation & PNG tRNS Transparency Not Normalized, Causing Mismatch Between Model Input and Expectations
GitHub lists this reviewed advisory for vllm. Published version ranges and source prerequisites are shown below; this is not an inspection of a visitor’s application.
This report has not inspected your inventory, configuration, deployed build, reachability or evidence. A catalog listing and a severity score do not establish exposure or compromise.
01 / Meaning
Why it matters
Published affected context helps an owner decide what evidence to gather. This report has not examined your application.
4.8 medium
GitHub source severity; exploitability and local consequence require separate evidence.
As of · GitHub Advisory Database
4.8 MEDIUM (3.1)
secalert@redhat.com severity; no combined Null risk score.
02 / Applicability
The affected context
Affected versions, configuration prerequisites and known exclusions are public. Confirm each one against the deployed service.
vllm
source listed>= 0.11.0, < 0.24.0
## Summary Issue 1: EXIF orientation not normalized → The image orientation processed by the model differs from how humans view it, introducing interpretation bias. Issue 2: PNG tRNS not explicitly flattened before converting to RGB → After conversion, transparent/semi-transparent pixels are rendered unexpectedly, making otherwise subtle overlay elements visible and distorting the input content. (This attack is similar to AlphaDog: RGBA handling is already correct in vLLM, but since tRNS permits RGB images, the correct processing path isn’t taken.) Issue 3 : Pillow only loads the first frame when loading APNG or GIF files. --- ## Root Cause * **Rotation**: After opening an image, `ImageOps.exif_transpose` is not called to normalize EXIF orientation. * **Transparency**: Only **RGBA→RGB** is flattened with a background; PNGs carrying **`tRNS`** in **`P`/`L`/`RGB + tRNS`** and other non-RGBA modes take the `image.convert("RGB")` path, which implicitly discards/remaps transparency semantics. --- ## Affected Code https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm/blob/16b37f3119918c1e5a39f303e0d0892c65c07a90/vllm/multimodal/image.py#L77-L84 https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm/blob/16b37f3
03 / Response
What to do next
- investigate
Identify the exact component and deployed version, examine the linked publisher’s conditions, and retain evidence of any mitigation.
Confirm current vendor support, compatibility and deployment evidence. This report has not tested a fix in your system. NIST National Vulnerability Database
A fixed release is not deployment evidence.
Check current vendor support and compatibility. After making a change, verify the deployed build and relevant runtime conditions. Keep the evidence, owner and time. An updated lockfile alone does not prove what is running.
04 / Limits
What this report cannot establish
- Customer inventory, deployment, reachability and exploitation have not been inspected.
- NVD lastModified does not establish freshness of every associated CPE record.
05 / Provenance
Sources you can inspect
Each assertion retains its source. Mirrored records may repeat one underlying publisher; additional links are not independent corroboration.
- GHSA-8jr5-v98p-w75m ↗
GitHub Advisory Database · vendor advisory
Observed . GitHub Advisory Database; CC-BY-4.0. Each advisory links its original attribution. Null normalizes fields.
- CVE-2026-12491 ↗
NIST National Vulnerability Database · official catalog
Observed . This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
Public revision history
Only published revisions appear here. Routine fetches do not create a material-change event.
- Revision 2 ·
Source facts changed; compare the preserved prior revision.
- Revision 1 ·
First indexed by Null; source disclosure date is shown separately.