CVE-2025-15514: Ollama null pointer dereference in multi-modal image processing via /api/chat

Summary

Ollama versions 0.11.5-rc0 through 0.13.5 contain a null pointer dereference in the multi-modal image processing code. Malformed base64 image data sent to the /api/chat endpoint makes mtmd_helper_bitmap_init_from_buf return NULL, which is dereferenced without a check, causing a segmentation fault that crashes the runner process. A remote attacker can cause a denial of service, leaving the model unavailable to all users until the service is restarted.

Mitigation

The source does not state a fix yet. Check the original advisory for updates.

Topics

• Inference infrastructure

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