CVE-2026-25988
Memory Leak in ImageMagick msl.c Causes Resource Exhaustion
Publication date: 2026-02-24
Last updated on: 2026-02-25
Assigner: GitHub, Inc.
Description
Description
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
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Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| imagemagick | imagemagick | to 6.9.13-40 (exc) |
| imagemagick | imagemagick | From 7.0.0-0 (inc) to 7.1.2-15 (exc) |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-401 | The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, making the memory unavailable for reallocation and reuse. |
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?
CVE-2026-25988 is a moderate severity vulnerability in ImageMagick, specifically in the msl.c component. The issue occurs because the software sometimes fails to update the image stack index correctly, causing images to be stored in incorrect stack slots and never freed when an error happens. This leads to memory leaks where allocated memory is not properly released.
How can this vulnerability impact me? :
This vulnerability can cause memory leaks in ImageMagick, which may lead to resource exhaustion on the affected system. While it does not impact confidentiality or integrity, it can reduce availability by consuming memory unnecessarily. An attacker could exploit this remotely without privileges or user interaction, potentially causing denial of service due to memory exhaustion.
How does this vulnerability affect compliance with common standards and regulations (like GDPR, HIPAA)?:
I don't know
How can this vulnerability be detected on my network or system? Can you suggest some commands?
This vulnerability causes memory leaks in ImageMagick due to improper handling of the image stack index in the msl.c component.
Detection can involve monitoring ImageMagick processes for abnormal memory usage or using memory leak detection tools such as LeakSanitizer to identify direct memory leaks.
Specific commands to detect memory leaks might include running ImageMagick operations under LeakSanitizer or similar tools to observe memory allocation and leaks.
- Use LeakSanitizer to run ImageMagick commands and check for memory leaks.
- Monitor system memory usage of ImageMagick processes with commands like `top`, `htop`, or `ps` to detect abnormal memory growth.
- Check for updates or patches applied to ImageMagick versions to ensure the vulnerability is fixed.
What immediate steps should I take to mitigate this vulnerability?
The primary mitigation step is to update ImageMagick to the patched versions 7.1.2-15 or 6.9.13-40 or later.
Since the vulnerability causes memory leaks that can impact availability, applying the patch will prevent resource exhaustion.
Additionally, monitor ImageMagick processes for unusual memory consumption until the update is applied.