CVE-2026-25969
📋 TL;DR
A memory leak vulnerability exists in ImageMagick's ASHLAR image coder when processing certain images. This could allow attackers to cause denial of service by exhausting system memory through repeated exploitation. Users of ImageMagick versions before 7.1.2-15 are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- ImageMagick
📦 What is this software?
Imagemagick by Imagemagick
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Repeated exploitation could lead to complete system memory exhaustion, causing denial of service and potential system crashes.
Likely Case
Degraded performance or application crashes due to memory exhaustion over time with repeated malicious image processing.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact with proper memory limits and monitoring in place.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires processing a specially crafted ASHLAR image file.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 7.1.2-15
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/ImageMagick/ImageMagick/security/advisories/GHSA-xgm3-v4r9-wfgm
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Update ImageMagick to version 7.1.2-15 or later. 2. For package managers: 'sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade imagemagick' (Debian/Ubuntu) or 'sudo yum update imagemagick' (RHEL/CentOS). 3. For source builds: Download latest from imagemagick.org and recompile.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable ASHLAR coder
linuxRemove or disable the vulnerable ASHLAR image coder module
sudo mv /usr/lib/ImageMagick-7.1.2/modules-Q16HDRI/coders/ashlar.la /usr/lib/ImageMagick-7.1.2/modules-Q16HDRI/coders/ashlar.la.disabled
sudo mv /usr/lib/ImageMagick-7.1.2/modules-Q16HDRI/coders/ashlar.so /usr/lib/ImageMagick-7.1.2/modules-Q16HDRI/coders/ashlar.so.disabled
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict memory limits for ImageMagick processes using ulimit or container constraints.
- Monitor system memory usage and set alerts for abnormal consumption patterns.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check ImageMagick version with 'convert --version' or 'magick --version' and verify it's below 7.1.2-15.Check Version:
convert --version | head -1Verify Fix Applied:
Confirm version is 7.1.2-15 or higher with 'convert --version' and test processing ASHLAR images while monitoring memory usage.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Repeated ImageMagick crashes
- High memory usage alerts from monitoring systems
- ASHLAR image processing errors in application logs
Network Indicators:
- Unusual volume of image uploads to web applications
SIEM Query:
source="*imagemagick*" AND (error OR crash OR "memory")