Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-25986

Memory Safety in Imagemagick ≤ 6.9.13-40

Memory Safety
Published
24 February 2026
Modified
25 February 2026
CVSS Score v3.1 5.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
EPSS Score 0.0046 38th percentile
Risk Priority 44 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-25986 is a medium-severity Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787) vulnerability in Imagemagick Imagemagick. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 38th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); 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 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-2026-25986 is a heap buffer overflow write vulnerability (CWE-787) in ImageMagick, a free and open-source software suite for editing and manipulating digital images. It affects all versions prior to 7.1.2-15 and 6.9.13-40, specifically in the ReadYUVImage() function within coders/yuv.c. The flaw occurs when processing malicious YUV 4:2:2 (NoInterlace) images, where a pixel-pair loop writes one pixel beyond the allocated row buffer, potentially leading to heap corruption.

The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.3 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L), indicating network accessibility with low attack complexity, no required privileges or user interaction, and unchanged impact scope. Remote attackers can exploit it by supplying a crafted YUV image to an ImageMagick-based application or service, achieving limited denial-of-service effects such as application crashes or resource exhaustion due to the buffer overflow, without compromising confidentiality or integrity.

The official ImageMagick GitHub security advisory (GHSA-mqfc-82jx-3mr2) documents the issue and confirms that patches addressing the out-of-bounds write are included in versions 7.1.2-15 and 6.9.13-40. Security practitioners should prioritize upgrading affected ImageMagick installations to these patched versions and validate image inputs where possible to prevent exploitation.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

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 buffer overflow write vulnerability exists in ReadYUVImage() (coders/yuv.c) when processing malicious YUV 4:2:2 (NoInterlace) images. The pixel-pair loop writes…

more

one pixel beyond the allocated row buffer. Versions 7.1.2-15 and 6.9.13-40 contain a patch.

CWE(s)
CWE-787

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.
attack.mitre.org →
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.
attack.mitre.org →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
attack.mitre.org →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-3745Same product: Imagemagick Imagemagick
CVE-2023-2157Same product: Imagemagick Imagemagick
CVE-2023-1906Same product: Imagemagick Imagemagick
CVE-2023-34474Same product: Imagemagick Imagemagick
CVE-2023-3428Same product: Imagemagick Imagemagick
CVE-2023-3195Same product: Imagemagick Imagemagick
CVE-2020-0986Shared CWE-787
CVE-2023-44807Shared CWE-787
CVE-2023-33635Shared CWE-787
CVE-2021-30761Shared CWE-787

Affected Assets

imagemagick
imagemagick
≤ 6.9.13-40 · 7.0.0-0 — 7.1.2-15

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation (including fuzzing and bounds checks) finds out-of-bounds write flaws before deployment.

SA-15 Development Process, Standards, and Tools partial match

Requiring documented secure-development standards and tools can mandate bounds-checked coding practices that avoid the weakness.

SI-10 Information Input Validation partial match

Input validation can structurally reject or sanitize data that would otherwise trigger an out-of-bounds write.

SI-16 Memory Protection partial match

Memory-protection mechanisms limit the exploitability and blast radius of a successful out-of-bounds write.

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-development practices (static analysis, bounds checking, code review) are the primary means of preventing out-of-bounds writes.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover out-of-bounds write flaws so they can be remediated.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching or replacing vulnerable software directly eliminates known instances of this coding weakness.

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.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development and acceptance can detect and prevent out-of-bounds write defects.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates practices that prevent out-of-bounds writes.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify bounds-checking and safe memory handling.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture and engineering principles reduce the likelihood of buffer overflows.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding directly addresses out-of-bounds writes through language choice and coding standards.

A.8.32 Change management partial match
prevents

Change management can enforce review gates that catch unsafe memory operations before deployment.

References