CVE-2026-23874
Description
A flaw was found in ImageMagick. A local user could exploit this vulnerability by providing a specially crafted Magick Scripting Language (MSL) file. This file, when processed, could trigger infinite recursion within the <write> command, leading to a stack overflow. Successful exploitation results in a Denial of Service (DoS) condition, making the application unavailable.
Statement
This vulnerability is rated Moderate for Red Hat products. It affects ImageMagick, where a stack overflow can occur due to infinite recursion when processing a specially crafted Magick Scripting Language (MSL) file. Exploitation requires an attacker to provide a malicious MSL file to a user or service that processes image files using ImageMagick in affected versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Community Projects.
Mitigation
To mitigate this issue, restrict ImageMagick's ability to process Magick Scripting Language (MSL) files. This can be achieved by adding a policy entry to disable the MSL coder. Create or modify the ImageMagick policy file (e.g., `/etc/ImageMagick-7/policy.xml` or `/etc/ImageMagick/policy.xml`) to include the following line within the `<policymap>` tags:
xml
<policy domain="coder" rights="none" pattern="MSL" />
After modifying the policy file, services or applications that use ImageMagick may need to be restarted for the changes to take effect. This may impact functionality that relies on processing MSL files.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.5 | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | N/A |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | N/A |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Amplification
An infinite loop will cause unexpected consumption of resources, such as CPU cycles or memory. The software's operation may slow down, or cause a long time to respond.
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