Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/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-2026-28494 is a high-severity Stack-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-121) vulnerability in Imagemagick Imagemagick. Its CVSS base score is 7.1 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 1th 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 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-2026-28494 is a stack buffer overflow vulnerability in ImageMagick, a free and open-source software suite for editing and manipulating digital images. The issue affects versions prior to 7.1.2-16 and 6.9.13-41, specifically in the morphology kernel parsing functions. User-controlled kernel strings that exceed the buffer size are copied into fixed-size stack buffers using memcpy without bounds checking, leading to stack corruption. This flaw is classified under CWE-121 (Stack-based Buffer Overflow) with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.1 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H).
An attacker with local access to the system can exploit this vulnerability by providing a malicious image file containing oversized kernel strings in the morphology parameters. Exploitation requires user interaction, such as convincing a user to process the crafted image with ImageMagick via a command-line tool or script. Successful exploitation results in high-impact integrity and availability violations, including potential stack corruption that could enable code execution, denial of service, or modification of image processing results, though confidentiality is not affected.
The official ImageMagick security advisory on GitHub (GHSA-932h-jw47-73jm) confirms the vulnerability and states that it is fixed in versions 7.1.2-16 and 6.9.13-41. Security practitioners should update to these patched versions immediately and avoid processing untrusted images with vulnerable installations.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-10373
Vulnerability Data
ImageMagick is free and open-source software used for editing and manipulating digital images. Prior to versions 7.1.2-16 and 6.9.13-41, a stack buffer overflow exists in ImageMagick's morphology kernel parsing functions. User-controlled kernel strings exceeding a buffer are copied into fixed-size…
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stack buffers via memcpy without bounds checking, resulting in stack corruption. This vulnerability is fixed in 7.1.2-16 and 6.9.13-41.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 2 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
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Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and analysis can discover stack-buffer overflows before deployment.
Input validation directly stops untrusted data from exceeding stack buffer bounds.
Memory-protection mechanisms limit the ability to execute injected code after a stack overflow.
Secure-engineering principles include bounds-checked coding and safe buffer handling that avoid introducing the flaw.
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 directly prevent introduction of stack buffer overflows.
Vulnerability scanning can discover stack buffer overflows but does not prevent their introduction.
Patching eliminates known instances of the weakness after discovery.
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 (fuzzing, static analysis) detects stack overflows before release.
Secure SDLC mandates buffer-safety practices that directly prevent stack overflows.
Application security requirements can specify buffer-size and input-validation rules.
Secure architecture principles include memory-safety and least-privilege stack usage.
Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe buffer handling that causes CWE-121.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
- V-248594 OL 8 must implement address space layout randomization (ASLR) to protect its memory from unauthorized code execution. prevents CWE-121
Oracle Linux 9 (1 rule)
- V-271452 OL 9 must use a Linux Security Module configured to enforce limits on system services. prevents CWE-121