An out‑of‑bounds read in libxpm's xpmNextWord() function allows a local user with low privileges to supply a crafted or very small XPM image file, causing the library to read past the end of the file. This improper boundary validation can lead to application crashes and Denial of Service. The weakness corresponds to CWE‑125. The impact is limited to code that uses libxpm, so an attacker can only disrupt services running on the local machine, not gain remote or elevated privileges.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 through 10, as well as Red Hat Hardened Images, are affected by the unpatched libxpm implementation found in these distributions. All current releases of these operating systems include the vulnerable version of libxpm until a patch is applied.

The CVSS score of 5.5 indicates a moderate severity, and the EPSS score of less than 1% suggests low exploitation likelihood. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog, further indicating a lower threat level. The attack likely requires local, low‑privilege access to the target system, and an attacker must invoke an XPM‑processing application to trigger the crash.