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ImageMagick PerlMagick EUVDEUVD-2026-109418

| CVE-2026-116157 MEDIUM
Memory Leak (CWE-401)
2026-10-25 VulnCheck GHSA-m2jm-q252-h5pf
4.8
CVSS 4.0 · Vendor: VulnCheck
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Supply images to PerlMagick-based app
  2. Delivery
    Invoke property-read code paths repeatedly
  3. Exploit
    Leak unfreed values each read (CWE-401)
  4. Execution
    Exhaust process memory
  5. Impact
    Denial of service / crash

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Resource cleanup, leak prevention
Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation requires an application or script that uses the PerlMagick (Perl) binding of ImageMagick and that reads image properties - the leak lives specifically in five PerlMagick property-reading code locations, not in the core C library or other language bindings, so deployments that do not use PerlMagick are not exposed through this path. The attacker must be able to cause those property reads to happen repeatedly (a single read leaks only a trivial amount); a one-off read is harmless. Limiting factors: the vendor marks the vector local (AV:L) with passive user interaction (UI:P), impact is confined to availability with no data exposure, and affected versions are strictly before 7.1.2-33 - upgrading to 7.1.2-33 removes the exposure.

Impact

This is a genuinely low-priority issue despite a moderate 4.8 CVSS 4.0 score, and the available signals are internally consistent. The vendor vector (CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L) describes a local attack vector with no confidentiality or integrity impact and only LOW availability impact - a slow resource-exhaustion condition, not code execution. The CWE-401 memory leak must be triggered repeatedly before memory is exhausted, so impact accrues over time rather than instantly. No EPSS score was supplied, no CISA KEV listing is present, and no proof-of-concept or exploit reference is in the input - only the GHSA and VulnCheck advisories, which document the flaw rather than provide working exploit code. The vuln.today decision label is 'this_month' (not act_now or emergency), matching the picture of a real but non-urgent defect. The one point worth verifying: the vector marks AV:L (local) and UI:P (passive user interaction), yet exploitation realistically happens when an application built on PerlMagick processes attacker-supplied images and reads their properties in a loop - whether that counts as 'local' depends on how the hosting application exposes PerlMagick, so confirm the deployment context with the vendor advisory.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An application or script built on PerlMagick repeatedly reads image properties from attacker-influenced input (for example in a long-running image-processing worker). Because five PerlMagick code paths never free the values they return, each property read leaks a small amount of memory; over many iterations the process exhausts available memory and crashes or degrades, producing a denial of service. No public exploit code is identified in the provided sources, and the local vector plus low complexity mean the main prerequisite is simply driving enough property reads.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
Patch available 0.1% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Oct 25, 2026

PerlMagick, the Perl binding shipped with ImageMagick, leaks memory in five property-reading code locations before release 7.1.2-33, so an attacker who can repeatedly drive property reads through that binding can exhaust process memory and cause a denial of service. Exposure is confined to applications or scripts that actually use PerlMagick and read image properties - the core C library and other language bindings are not affected through this path, and a single read leaks only a trivial amount, so the reads must recur. The vendor has released a fix in 7.1.2-33; no public exploit code was identified at time of analysis and the issue is not in CISA KEV, which fits its genuinely low priority despite the moderate 4.8 CVSS 4.0 score.

RemediationAI

Vendor-released patch: upgrade ImageMagick to 7.1.2-33 or later, which the advisory lists as the fixed version for the PerlMagick package; the version matrix and confirmation are at https://github.com/ImageMagick/ImageMagick/security/advisories/GHSA-pj4h-g4pf-66v3 and https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/imagemagick-before-7.1.2-33-memory-leak-in-perlmagick-property-reading. Where the upgrade cannot be applied immediately, the actionable compensating controls follow directly from the exploitation conditions: avoid or refactor Perl scripts that loop over property reads on attacker-supplied images, since the leak only accumulates when reads recur (trade-off: application functionality that depends on those repeated reads must be redesigned or cached); and confine the affected PerlMagick process with a hard memory limit such as RLIMIT_AS or a memory-cgroup cap so an exhausted process is killed rather than taking down the host (trade-off: legitimate large-image processing may be terminated, so the limit must be sized against normal peak usage). Running the property-reading work in disposable, restartable worker processes also bounds the blast radius at the cost of added process-management overhead. For deployments that never use the PerlMagick binding, the advisory's scope indicates these paths are not reachable, so no action is required beyond normal image-processing hygiene; per the vendor advisory, updating to 7.1.2-33 is the complete fix.

Affected VersionsENISA

ImageMagick 0 <7.1.2-33

Affected Packages

euvd imagemagick fix: 7.1.2-33

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 1 package in euvd

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

The root cause class is CWE-401, Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime: per the GitHub security advisory, five locations in PerlMagick return a value that is never cleaned up, so each invocation retains an allocation for the lifetime of the process. PerlMagick is the Perl-language interface layered on top of ImageMagick's MagickCore image and property handling, which means the defect lives in the binding's property-getter paths rather than in the underlying image codec or core library, and CPE cpe:2.3:a:imagemagick:imagemagick:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* identifies the ImageMagick package itself as the affected component (fixed in 7.1.2-33). The advisory does not describe the exact call sequence or which of the five sites is reached by any given read, so the precise trigger beyond repeated property reads is not described in the available sources; likewise the specific property names and Perl API calls involved are not enumerated in the supplied data. Because the impact is a slow, cumulative resource drain rather than corruption or disclosure, the assessed consequence is confined to availability, and the assessed vector is local (AV:L) with passive user interaction (UI:P/UI:R) and no privileges required (PR:N).

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Severity by source

Vendor (VulnCheck) PRIMARY 4.8 MEDIUM
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
vuln.today AI 3.3 LOW

PerlMagick processes attacker-supplied images locally (AV:L) with passive interaction (UI:R) and low effort (AC:L); the gradual memory leak yields only partial availability loss (A:L), no C/I impact.

3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Red Hat 3.3 LOW

Primary rating from Vendor (VulnCheck).

CVSS VectorVendor: VulnCheck

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Attack Requirements
None
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
Passive
Vulnerable system: Confidentiality
None
Vulnerable system: Integrity
None
Vulnerable system: Availability
Low
Subsequent system: Confidentiality
None
Subsequent system: Integrity
None
Subsequent system: Availability
None

Lifecycle Timeline

2
Patch available
Oct 25, 2026 - 14:01 EUVD
CVE Published
Oct 25, 2026 - 13:20 cve.org
MEDIUM 4.8

DescriptionCVE.org

ImageMagick before 7.1.2-33 contains a memory leak vulnerability in PerlMagick that fails to free values returned when reading image properties. Attackers can repeatedly trigger property reads through five affected PerlMagick code locations to exhaust memory and cause denial of service.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.1%
Top 99% exploitable
Prevalence
High
ImageMagick is widely deployed, though only the PerlMagick binding is affected
Data Quality
5 sources
Confidence: Medium

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity MEDIUM
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.1%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Defer
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Small
Automatable· derived
No
Human Impact· derived
Medium

Priority Score

24
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +24
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.

CVE-2016-3714 HIGH POC
8.4 May 05

The (1) EPHEMERAL, (2) HTTPS, (3) MVG, (4) MSL, (5) TEXT, (6) SHOW, (7) WIN, and (8) PLT coders in ImageMagick before 6.

CVE-2016-3718 MEDIUM POC
5.5 May 05

The (1) HTTP and (2) FTP coders in ImageMagick before 6.9.3-10 and 7.x before 7.0.1-1 allow remote attackers to conduct

CVE-2016-3715 MEDIUM POC
5.5 May 05

The EPHEMERAL coder in ImageMagick before 6.9.3-10 and 7.x before 7.0.1-1 allows remote attackers to delete arbitrary fi

CVE-2017-15277 MEDIUM POC
6.5 Oct 12

ReadGIFImage in coders/gif.c in ImageMagick 7.0.6-1 and GraphicsMagick 1.3.26 leaves the palette uninitialized when proc

CVE-2016-5841 CRITICAL POC
9.8 Dec 13

Integer overflow in MagickCore/profile.c in ImageMagick before 7.0.2-1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of serv

CVE-2016-3717 MEDIUM POC
5.5 May 05

The LABEL coder in ImageMagick before 6.9.3-10 and 7.x before 7.0.1-1 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files vi

CVE-2016-5118 CRITICAL
9.8 Jun 10

The OpenBlob function in blob.c in GraphicsMagick before 1.3.24 and ImageMagick allows remote attackers to execute arbit

CVE-2016-5689 CRITICAL POC
9.8 Dec 13

The DCM reader in ImageMagick before 6.9.4-5 and 7.x before 7.0.1-7 allows remote attackers to have unspecified impact b

CVE-2016-5690 CRITICAL POC
9.8 Dec 13

The ReadDCMImage function in DCM reader in ImageMagick before 6.9.4-5 and 7.x before 7.0.1-7 allows remote attackers to

CVE-2016-5691 CRITICAL POC
9.8 Dec 13

The DCM reader in ImageMagick before 6.9.4-5 and 7.x before 7.0.1-7 allows remote attackers to have unspecified impact b

CVE-2017-14138 CRITICAL POC
9.8 Sep 04

ImageMagick 7.0.6-5 has a memory leak vulnerability in ReadWEBPImage in coders/webp.c because memory is not freed in cer

CVE-2026-23876 CRITICAL POC
9.8 Jan 20

Heap buffer overflow in ImageMagick's XBM image decoder (ReadXBMImage) lets remote attackers write attacker-controlled d

Vendor StatusVendor

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