ImageMagick CVE-2026-106566

Exploitation requires a local, already-privileged ImageMagick workflow (prior to 7.1.2-32, or ImageMagick6 prior to 6.9.13-57) that invokes delegate processing and its symlink-based temporary-file shred/cleanup path (the code path gated by the MAGICK_SHRED_PASSES environment variable in AcquireUniqueSymbolicLink). The attacker must be able to create or control a symbolic link at the cleanup target location and the cleanup must follow it (CWE-61). Limiting factors are substantial: no remote vector (AV:L), high attack complexity including timing/race conditions (AC:H), pre-existing high privileges (PR:H), and required user/operator interaction (UI:R); impact is confined to overwriting a target file with random data (integrity), with no confidentiality or availability loss.

This is a genuinely low-priority issue despite ImageMagick's broad footprint. The provided CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N, base 4.0/Medium) describes a local-only flaw that stacks multiple hard prerequisites: local access, high attack complexity, already-high privileges, and required user interaction, with impact limited to integrity (file overwrite) and no confidentiality or availability effect. No EPSS score, CISA KEV listing, or POC indicator was supplied in the intelligence, so there is no public exploit identified at time of analysis and no evidence of active exploitation. The signals are internally consistent and all point low - the only conflict is the metadata tag 'Information Disclosure', which contradicts the CVSS impact profile (C:N/I:H): this is a destructive symlink-following integrity bug (CWE-61), not a disclosure issue. Even though ImageMagick is deployed extremely widely, the PR:H + AC:H + AV:L gating means real-world risk is minimal and this should not be prioritized above network-reachable or unauthenticated flaws.

A local attacker who can influence a privileged ImageMagick workflow pre-places a symbolic link at the path used for delegate temporary-file cleanup. Because the shred/cleanup routine followed the symlink without honoring MAGICK_SHRED_PASSES, the privileged process overwrites the symlink target with random data, corrupting an arbitrary file the attacker could not otherwise write. No public exploit is identified at time of analysis, and exploitation requires local access, elevated privileges, user interaction, and winning specific timing conditions.