CVE-2023-44442
Memory Safety in Gimp ≤ 2.10.36
Raw vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2023-44442 is a high-severity Heap-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-122) vulnerability in Gimp Gimp. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked in the top 0.8% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2023-44442 is a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in GIMP's PSD file parsing code. The flaw stems from insufficient validation of the length of attacker-supplied data before it is copied into a heap buffer, enabling remote code execution on affected GIMP installations. The issue was originally reported as ZDI-CAN-22094 and carries a CVSS 3.0 score of 7.8.
An attacker can exploit the vulnerability by supplying a malicious PSD file that the victim must open, either by visiting a malicious web page or directly loading the file in GIMP. Successful exploitation grants arbitrary code execution in the context of the GIMP process.
GIMP 2.10.36 addresses the issue, as noted in the project's November 2023 release announcement and the corresponding Zero Day Initiative advisory ZDI-23-1594; Debian also published an LTS update referencing the same fix. The EPSS score currently stands at 0.6033 with no material post-disclosure rise from a lower baseline.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-48782
Vulnerability Data
GIMP PSD File Parsing Heap-based Buffer Overflow Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of GIMP. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a…
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malicious page or open a malicious file. The specific flaw exists within the parsing of PSD files. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of the length of user-supplied data prior to copying it to a heap-based buffer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current process. Was ZDI-CAN-22094.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V1.4.1
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation (including fuzzing and memory-error detectors) can discover heap overflows after they have been coded.
Input validation enforces bounds checking on data written to heap buffers, directly stopping the overflow condition from being introduced.
Security engineering principles require use of memory-safe constructs and bounds-checked allocation routines that avoid introducing heap overflows.
Memory-protection mechanisms limit the ability of a heap overflow to execute attacker-controlled code or corrupt adjacent structures.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover heap-overflow flaws but does not prevent their introduction in code.
Timely patching removes known heap-overflow instances after they exist.
Secure-development practices directly require bounds checking and safe memory handling that prevent heap overflows.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.