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How CVE-2026-53462 Works
ImageMagick is a widely used open-source suite for editing and manipulating digital images. The vulnerability resides in the `CheckPrimitiveExtent` function, which is responsible for validating memory allocation for image drawing primitives.
Under normal operation, `CheckPrimitiveExtent` allocates heap memory to handle drawing commands. However, when a memory allocation fails—due to resource exhaustion or an oversized request—the function attempts to clean up by freeing the already-allocated memory. The critical flaw is that after freeing this memory, the function does not clear or invalidate the pointer that references it. This leaves a dangling pointer pointing to a memory region that has been returned to the allocator.
Later, the same memory region may be reallocated for a different purpose and assigned to another pointer. Meanwhile, the original dangling pointer still references a location within this new allocation. Any subsequent operations that use the original pointer—such as reading, writing, or further freeing—will access memory that now belongs to a different object. This is the classic use-after-free (UAF) scenario, classified under CWE-416.
An attacker can trigger this flaw by supplying a specially crafted image that causes memory allocation to fail during processing. When the vulnerable code path is executed, the heap-use-after-free condition occurs, leading to memory corruption. The most immediate and observable outcome is a crash of the application or service processing the image, resulting in a denial of service (DoS). The vulnerability is remotely exploitable over the network without authentication, though the attack complexity is considered High due to the need to reliably trigger the allocation failure. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity—only availability is affected. No public exploit is currently available, and there is no evidence of active exploitation in the wild.
The issue affects all ImageMagick 6.x releases before 6.9.13-50 and all 7.x releases from 7.0.0-0 through 7.1.2-24. It has been patched in versions 6.9.13-50 and 7.1.2-25.
DailyCVE Form:
Platform: ……. ImageMagick
Version: …….. < 6.9.13-50, < 7.1.2-25
Vulnerability :…… Use-After-Free (CWE-416)
Severity: ……. Medium (CVSS 5.9)
date: ………. 2026-06-10
Prediction: ……. Patched (2026-06-10)
What Undercode Say
Analytics & Bash Commands
Check your ImageMagick version:
identify -version
For Debian/Ubuntu systems, check the installed package version:
apt list --installed | grep imagemagick
For RHEL/CentOS/Fedora:
rpm -qa | grep ImageMagick
To determine if your system is vulnerable, compare the version output:
– If version is 6.x and lower than 6.9.13-50 → Vulnerable
– If version is 7.x and lower than 7.1.2-25 → Vulnerable
– If version is 6.9.13-50 or higher, or 7.1.2-25 or higher → Patched
Monitor ImageMagick crash logs for signs of exploitation:
grep -i "CheckPrimitiveExtent" /var/log/syslog journalctl | grep -i "imagemagick|CheckPrimitive"
Exploit
Triggering this vulnerability requires an attacker to supply a maliciously crafted image file that causes a memory allocation failure within CheckPrimitiveExtent. The attack vector is remote and network-accessible, with no authentication required. No public exploit code has been released, and the attack complexity is rated High, making reliable exploitation difficult. The primary impact is a denial-of-service condition—the application crashes, but an attacker cannot execute arbitrary code or leak sensitive information.
Protection
Immediate Actions:
- Upgrade to ImageMagick 6.9.13-50 (legacy 6.x branch) or 7.1.2-25 (current 7.x branch).
- For Debian/Ubuntu: `apt upgrade imagemagick` (once the patched version is available in your distribution’s repository).
- For RHEL/CentOS/Fedora:
dnf upgrade ImageMagick. - Download the latest release directly from ImageMagick’s official site if your package manager does not yet offer the update.
Workarounds (if immediate upgrade is not possible):
- Restrict ImageMagick processing to trusted input sources only. There is no configuration-level workaround that fully neutralizes the allocation-failure code path.
- Consider using a dedicated image sanitization service or sandboxing ImageMagick in a container with memory limits to make triggering the allocation failure more difficult.
Impact
- Confidentiality: None — no data leakage.
- Integrity: None — no data modification.
- Availability: High — successful exploitation causes a crash, leading to denial of service.
- CVSS Base Score: 5.9 (Medium) with vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H. - Affected Versions: All ImageMagick 6.x before 6.9.13-50 and all 7.x from 7.0.0-0 through 7.1.2-24.
- Exploitation Status: No public exploit; no evidence of active exploitation in the wild.
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Sources:
Reported By: github.com
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