CVE-2026-25987
Memory Safety in Imagemagick ≤ 6.9.13-40
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:NSummary
CVE-2026-25987 is a medium-severity Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125) 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 30th 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-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — 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-2026-25987 is a heap buffer over-read vulnerability (CWE-125) in the MAP image decoder of ImageMagick, a free and open-source software suite for editing and manipulating digital images. The flaw affects ImageMagick versions prior to 7.1.2-15 and 6.9.13-40, where processing crafted MAP files during image decoding can trigger the issue. Published on 2026-02-24, it carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.3 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N), indicating medium severity primarily due to low-impact confidentiality exposure.
The vulnerability can be exploited by unauthenticated attackers over the network with low complexity and no user interaction required, by supplying a maliciously crafted MAP file to an affected ImageMagick instance. Exploitation leads to potential crashes of the decoding process or unintended disclosure of heap memory contents, enabling limited information leakage without integrity modification or denial-of-service impacts as scored.
ImageMagick versions 7.1.2-15 and 6.9.13-40 address the vulnerability with a patch. Additional details are available in the project's security advisory at https://github.com/ImageMagick/ImageMagick/security/advisories/GHSA-42p5-62qq-mmh7. Security practitioners should prioritize updating vulnerable deployments, particularly in web services or applications that process untrusted images via ImageMagick.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-7418
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 over-read vulnerability exists in the MAP image decoder when processing crafted MAP files, potentially leading to crashes or…
more
unintended memory disclosure during image decoding. Versions 7.1.2-15 and 6.9.13-40 contain a patch.
- 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 directly finds out-of-bounds read flaws through static analysis, fuzzing, and dynamic bounds checks.
Secure engineering principles require bounds checking and memory-safe constructs that stop out-of-bounds reads from being introduced.
Process isolation confines the effects of an out-of-bounds read to the compromised process.
Input validation rejects malformed indices or lengths that would otherwise cause reads outside buffer bounds.
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-development practices such as bounds checking and memory-safe languages directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.
Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover instances of out-of-bounds reads after code is deployed.
Routine patching replaces vulnerable code containing out-of-bounds read flaws.
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 in development and acceptance includes fuzzing and static analysis that detect out-of-bounds read defects before release.
Logging can record evidence of an out-of-bounds read but does not prevent the weakness itself.
Secure development life cycle mandates input validation and bounds checking that directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.
Application security requirements include explicit bounds and memory-safety specifications that mitigate buffer over-reads.
Secure system architecture and engineering principles require memory-safe design patterns and runtime protections against out-of-bounds access.
Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe pointer arithmetic and mandate bounds-checked reads, eliminating CWE-125.