CVE-2026-96643
Description
A flaw was found in Pillow. When processing a specially crafted image with repeated Exchangeable Image File Format (EXIF) metadata headers, the library repeatedly copies and parses the data. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability by providing a malicious image file to an application that processes image metadata, causing excessive CPU consumption that results in a Denial of Service (DoS).
Statement
Red Hat rates this vulnerability as having an Important severity because remote, unauthenticated attackers can cause severe denial of service by submitting crafted images to automated image-processing pipelines. Services utilizing Pillow to inspect metadata or perform operations such as orientation adjustments can experience quadratic CPU consumption when parsing repetitive header markers. Because this condition can be triggered remotely without privileges in standard image handling workflows, it poses an elevated availability risk to backend services.
Mitigation
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.
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).
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 7.5 | 6.5 | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Network | Network | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | Low | Low | N/A |
| Privileges Required | None | None | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | Required | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | Unchanged | N/A |
| Confidentiality | None | None | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | None | None | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | High | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
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