Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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-2026-23952 is a medium-severity NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) vulnerability in Imagemagick Imagemagick. Its CVSS base score is 6.5 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Endpoint Denial of Service (T1499); ranked at the 36th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); 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 SA-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — 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-2026-23952 is a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability in the MSL (Magick Scripting Language) parser of ImageMagick, affecting versions 14.10.1 and earlier. The flaw occurs when processing <comment> tags before images are loaded, leading to an assertion failure in debug builds or a NULL pointer dereference in release builds. This issue, classified under CWE-476, carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H), indicating medium severity primarily due to high availability impact.
An attacker with low privileges, such as an authenticated user on a system processing untrusted MSL input over the network, can exploit this vulnerability with low complexity and no user interaction required. By crafting a malicious MSL file with a specially positioned <comment> tag, the attacker triggers the parser error, causing the ImageMagick process to crash and resulting in a denial-of-service condition.
The official ImageMagick security advisory (GHSA-5vx3-wx4q-6cj8) details the fix in version 14.10.2, recommending immediate upgrades for affected installations. Additionally, the Magick.NET library, which wraps ImageMagick, released version 14.10.2 to address this vulnerability. Practitioners should verify and apply these patches, disable MSL processing if unnecessary, and validate inputs in environments handling user-supplied image files.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-3699
Vulnerability Data
ImageMagick is free and open-source software used for editing and manipulating digital images. Versions 14.10.1 and below have a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability in the MSL (Magick Scripting Language) parser when processing <comment> tags before images are loaded. This can…
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lead to DoS attack due to assertion failure (debug builds) or NULL pointer dereference (release builds). This issue is fixed in version 14.10.2.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation (including static analysis) directly finds null-dereference bugs before deployment.
Documented development standards and tools can enforce null-safety rules and safe pointer usage.
Engineering principles can mandate defensive coding such as explicit null checks before dereference.
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.
Secure SDLC practices (static analysis, code review, safe coding standards) directly prevent NULL dereference bugs during development.
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.
Security testing can detect NULL dereference defects before release.
Secure SDLC mandates defensive coding practices that can prevent NULL dereferences.
Application security requirements can specify input validation and pointer-safety rules.
Secure architecture principles encourage defensive design that avoids unsafe pointer use.
Secure coding standards directly require NULL-pointer checks and safe dereference patterns.