Libtiff

Libtiff is a library for reading and writing Tagged Image File Format (abbreviated TIFF) files. The set also contains command line tools for processing TIFFs. It is distributed in source code and can be found as binary builds for all kinds of platforms. The libtiff software was written by Sam Leffler while working for Silicon Graphics.

Support for BigTIFF files larger than 4 GiB (4,294,967,296 bytes) was included for Libtiff 4.0.

A TIFF file is composed of small descriptor blocks containing offsets into the file which point to a variety of data types. Incorrect offset values can cause programs to attempt to read erroneous portions of the file or attempt to read past the physical end of file. Improperly encoded packet or line lengths within the file can cause rendering programs which lack appropriate boundary checks to overflow their internal buffers.

Multiple buffer overflows have been found in Libtiff. Some of these have also been used to execute unsigned code on the PlayStation Portable, as well as run third-party applications on the iPhone and iPod Touch firmware.

Around January 2004, the original libtiff website (libtiff.org) has been hijacked, after it had disappeared in September 2003 due to ISP problems. The libtiff.org site contains a very outdated mirror of the real site, and much of the information contained therein is incorrect, including the current version number, authors, mailing list address, and the CVS information.