Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-53101

Memory Safety in Imagemagick ≤ 6.9.13-26

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
14 July 2025
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.4
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0079 53th percentile
Risk Priority 57 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-53101 is a high-severity Buffer Underflow (CWE-124) vulnerability in Imagemagick Imagemagick. Its CVSS base score is 7.4 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 47% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

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-2025-53101 is a stack overflow vulnerability (CWE-124) in ImageMagick, a free and open-source software suite for editing and manipulating digital images. It affects versions prior to 7.1.2-0 and 6.9.13-26, specifically in the `magick mogrify` command. The flaw occurs when multiple consecutive `%d` format specifiers are provided in a filename template, causing internal pointer arithmetic to generate an address below the beginning of the stack buffer and triggering a stack overflow via `vsnprintf()`.

The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.4 (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H), indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network by unauthenticated attackers with no privileges required and no user interaction needed, though it demands high attack complexity. Exploitation allows attackers to severely impact system integrity and availability, such as through denial of service or corruption of image processing operations, without affecting confidentiality.

Mitigation is addressed by upgrading to ImageMagick versions 7.1.2-0 or 6.9.13-26, which include the fixing commit at https://github.com/ImageMagick/ImageMagick/commit/66dc8f51c11b0ae1f1cdeacd381c3e9a4de69774. Official advisories provide further details, including the GitHub security advisory at https://github.com/ImageMagick/ImageMagick/security/advisories/GHSA-qh3h-j545-h8c9 and a Debian LTS announcement at https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/09/msg00012.html.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

ImageMagick is free and open-source software used for editing and manipulating digital images. In versions prior to 7.1.2-0 and 6.9.13-26, in ImageMagick's `magick mogrify` command, specifying multiple consecutive `%d` format specifiers in a filename template causes internal pointer arithmetic to…

more

generate an address below the beginning of the stack buffer, resulting in a stack overflow through `vsnprintf()`. Versions 7.1.2-0 and 6.9.13-26 fix the issue.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-25794Same product: Imagemagick Imagemagick
CVE-2026-61861Same product: Imagemagick Imagemagick
CVE-2026-25897Same product: Imagemagick Imagemagick
CVE-2026-53466Same product: Imagemagick Imagemagick
CVE-2026-56376Same product: Imagemagick Imagemagick
CVE-2026-28688Same product: Imagemagick Imagemagick
CVE-2026-53462Same product: Imagemagick Imagemagick
CVE-2026-25983Same product: Imagemagick Imagemagick
CVE-2026-56373Same product: Imagemagick Imagemagick
CVE-2026-55510Same product: Imagemagick Imagemagick

Affected Assets

imagemagick
imagemagick
≤ 6.9.13-26 · 7.0.0-0 — 7.1.2-0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.4.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and analysis can discover buffer underwrite flaws before deployment but does not stop their introduction.

Input validation can enforce bounds on indices or pointers before buffer writes, structurally stopping underwrite conditions.

Memory protection mechanisms limit the blast radius of an out-of-bounds write even if the coding flaw exists.

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.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly prevent introduction of buffer underwrite flaws via coding standards, reviews, and testing.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability identification processes can discover buffer underwrite issues but do not prevent their creation.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching removes instances of the weakness after discovery but does not address root-cause prevention in code.

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.

finds

Security testing in development catches buffer-underflow defects before release.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates input validation and bounds checking that directly prevent buffer underflow.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify buffer-size and pointer-safety rules.

prevents

Secure architecture and engineering principles require safe memory-handling patterns.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe pointer arithmetic and mandate bounds checks.

References