CVE-2023-34152 – CVE-2023-34152 is a critical remote code execut... (How to Fix)

Q: What is the severity of CVE-2023-34152?

CVE-2023-34152 has a CVSS score of 9.8 (CRITICAL). CVE-2023-34152 is a critical remote code execution vulnerability in ImageMagick's OpenBlob function when compiled with --enable-pipes configuration. Attackers can exploit this by processing malicious images, potentially gaining full system control. This affects any system using vulnerable ImageMagick versions with pipes enabled.

📋 TL;DR

CVE-2023-34152 is a critical remote code execution vulnerability in ImageMagick's OpenBlob function when compiled with --enable-pipes configuration. Attackers can exploit this by processing malicious images, potentially gaining full system control. This affects any system using vulnerable ImageMagick versions with pipes enabled.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:

ImageMagick

Versions: Versions before 7.1.1-15 and 6.9.12-90

Operating Systems: Linux, Unix-like systems, Windows

Default Config Vulnerable: ✅ No

Notes: Only vulnerable when compiled with --enable-pipes configuration. Many distributions disable this by default.

📦 What is this software?

⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

🔴

Worst Case

Complete system compromise with root/admin privileges, data exfiltration, ransomware deployment, and persistent backdoor installation.

🟠

Likely Case

Remote code execution with the privileges of the ImageMagick process, leading to data theft, lateral movement, or cryptomining.

🟢

If Mitigated

Limited impact due to sandboxing, minimal privileges, or network segmentation preventing full system compromise.

🌐 Internet-Facing: HIGH - Any internet-facing service processing user-uploaded images with vulnerable ImageMagick is at immediate risk.

🏢 Internal Only: MEDIUM - Internal systems processing images from untrusted sources remain vulnerable to insider threats or compromised internal systems.

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ⚠️ Yes

Weaponized: LIKELY

Unauthenticated Exploit: ⚠️ Yes

Complexity: LOW

Exploitation requires processing a malicious image file. Public PoC exists in GitHub issues.

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: ImageMagick 7.1.1-15 and 6.9.12-90

Vendor Advisory: https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-34152

Restart Required: Yes

Instructions:

1. Update ImageMagick using your package manager: 'sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade imagemagick' (Debian/Ubuntu) or 'sudo yum update imagemagick' (RHEL/CentOS). 2. Restart any services using ImageMagick. 3. Verify the update with 'convert --version'.

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Disable pipe support

linux

Recompile ImageMagick without --enable-pipes configuration

./configure --disable-pipes
make
sudo make install

Use policy.xml restrictions

all

Limit ImageMagick's capabilities via policy configuration

Edit /etc/ImageMagick-7/policy.xml or /etc/ImageMagick-6/policy.xml to restrict delegate execution

🧯 If You Can't Patch

Isolate ImageMagick processing to dedicated, sandboxed containers with minimal privileges
Implement strict input validation and file type checking before passing images to ImageMagick

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check ImageMagick version with 'convert --version' or 'magick --version'. If version is below 7.1.1-15 (for ImageMagick 7) or 6.9.12-90 (for ImageMagick 6), and compiled with pipes enabled, it's vulnerable.

Check Version:

convert --version | head -1

Verify Fix Applied:

Confirm version is 7.1.1-15 or higher (ImageMagick 7) or 6.9.12-90 or higher (ImageMagick 6) using 'convert --version'.

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

Unusual process execution from ImageMagick
Suspicious command execution in system logs following image processing
Failed image processing attempts with malformed files

Network Indicators:

Outbound connections from ImageMagick processes to unexpected destinations
Unusual data exfiltration following image uploads

SIEM Query:

process.name:"convert" OR process.name:"magick" AND (process.args:"pipe" OR process.args:"|" OR process.args:"sh" OR process.args:"bash")

📊 Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2023-34152

CVSS v3 Score: 9.8 (CRITICAL)

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CWE: CWE-20

Published: May 30, 2023

Last Updated: January 13, 2025

🔗 References

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-34152 Third Party Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2210659 Issue Tracking,Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/ImageMagick/ImageMagick/issues/6339 Exploit,Issue Tracking,Patch,Vendor Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/4UFQJCYJ23HWHNDOVKBHZQ7HCXXL6MM3/ Mailing List,Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/V2ZUHZXQ2C3JZYKPW4XHCMVVL467MA2V/ Mailing List,Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-34152 Third Party Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2210659 Issue Tracking,Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/ImageMagick/ImageMagick/issues/6339 Exploit,Issue Tracking,Patch,Vendor Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/4UFQJCYJ23HWHNDOVKBHZQ7HCXXL6MM3/ Mailing List,Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/V2ZUHZXQ2C3JZYKPW4XHCMVVL467MA2V/ Mailing List,Third Party Advisory

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