Overview
In the ever-evolving field of cybersecurity, vulnerabilities in widely used software packages pose significant risks. A clear example of this is CVE-2025-55154, a critical vulnerability that affects the popular image processing software, ImageMagick. This software is extensively used in web services to create, modify, and manage digital images. The vulnerability lies in the software’s magnified size calculations, which can overflow and lead to memory corruption, potentially causing system compromise or data leakage.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-55154
Severity: High (8.8 CVSS Score)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Memory corruption, potential system compromise and data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
ImageMagick | Prior to 6.9.13-27
ImageMagick | Prior to 7.1.2-1
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability is located in the ReadOneMNGImage function of the png.c file in ImageMagick. The function performs incorrect calculations for the magnified size of images, which can result in an overflow. This overflow can lead to memory corruption, which in turn can lead to undefined behavior, including system crashes or potentially, arbitrary code execution. An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending a specially crafted image file to a victim using ImageMagick, which when processed, can trigger the overflow and subsequent memory corruption.
Conceptual Example Code
A malicious actor might exploit this vulnerability by uploading a carefully crafted .mng image file to a web server that uses ImageMagick to process images. The pseudocode below, while not actual exploit code, gives a conceptual idea of how this might occur:
# Pseudocode for crafting a malicious .mng file
def create_malicious_mng():
# Create an image with size values designed to overflow
# when magnified by ImageMagick
image = Image(width=0xFFFFFFF, height=0xFFFFFFF)
# Save the image to a .mng file
image.save("malicious.mng")
create_malicious_mng()An attacker could then upload this malicious .mng file to a web server that uses ImageMagick for image processing, potentially leading to memory corruption and other adverse effects.