CVE-2026-24481
Published: 24 February 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-24481 is a high-severity Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125) vulnerability in Imagemagick Imagemagick. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 4.6th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-11 (Error Handling).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2026-24481 is a heap information disclosure vulnerability (CWE-125) in ImageMagick, a free and open-source software suite for editing and manipulating digital images. The issue resides in the PSD (Adobe Photoshop) format handler, affecting versions prior to 7.1.2-15 for the 7.x branch and 6.9.13-40 for the 6.x branch. It occurs when processing a maliciously crafted PSD file containing ZIP-compressed layer data that decompresses to less than the expected size, resulting in uninitialized heap memory being leaked into the output image. The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N).
Attackers can exploit this vulnerability remotely without privileges or user interaction by supplying a specially crafted PSD file to an ImageMagick instance, such as in a web application or image processing pipeline that handles untrusted uploads. Successful exploitation leaks sensitive uninitialized heap memory contents into the resulting output image, potentially exposing confidential data like cryptographic keys, passwords, or other process memory artifacts visible to an attacker upon inspecting the output.
The official ImageMagick GitHub security advisory (GHSA-96pc-27rx-pr36) confirms the patch in versions 7.1.2-15 and 6.9.13-40, recommending immediate upgrades for affected systems. Practitioners should verify deployments, scan for vulnerable versions, and implement input validation to reject or sanitize PSD files from untrusted sources until patching is complete.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-7460
Vulnerability details
ImageMagick is free and open-source software used for editing and manipulating digital images. Prior to versions 7.1.2-15 and 6.9.13-40, a heap information disclosure vulnerability exists in ImageMagick's PSD (Adobe Photoshop) format handler. When processing a maliciously crafted PSD file containing…
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ZIP-compressed layer data that decompresses to less than the expected size, uninitialized heap memory is leaked into the output image. Versions 7.1.2-15 and 6.9.13-40 contain a patch.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Remote unauthenticated PSD file processing in ImageMagick (public-facing apps) directly enables T1190; resulting heap memory disclosure of credentials/keys enables T1212.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Requires timely patching of ImageMagick to fixed versions 7.1.2-15 or 6.9.13-40, directly eliminating the heap information disclosure vulnerability in the PSD handler.
Enforces validation of untrusted PSD inputs to reject maliciously crafted files with ZIP-compressed layer data that decompress to less than expected size.
Prevents leakage of uninitialized heap memory into output images by ensuring error handling does not disclose sensitive information during PSD processing failures.