CVE-2014-3598 in Pillow
Summary
by MITRE
The Jpeg2KImagePlugin plugin in Pillow before 2.5.3 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via a crafted image.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/10/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-3598 represents a critical denial of service weakness within the Jpeg2KImagePlugin component of the Pillow library, a widely used Python imaging library that serves as a fork of PIL. This flaw affects versions prior to 2.5.3 and enables remote attackers to exploit the system by submitting maliciously crafted image files that trigger unexpected behavior in the image processing pipeline. The vulnerability specifically targets the JPEG 2000 image format handling mechanism, which is implemented through the Jpeg2KImagePlugin module.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and error handling within the JPEG 2000 decoding process. When the Pillow library attempts to process a malformed or specially crafted JPEG 2000 image file, the parsing logic fails to properly handle certain edge cases or malformed data structures that occur in the image header or bitstream. This deficiency leads to a situation where the image processing routine enters an infinite loop or consumes excessive system resources, ultimately resulting in a denial of service condition that can crash the application or make it unresponsive to legitimate requests.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to web applications, content management systems, and any services that utilize Pillow for image processing and user-uploaded content handling. Attackers can exploit this weakness by uploading or submitting malicious JPEG 2000 files to systems that use Pillow for image validation or processing, causing the target application to consume excessive CPU cycles or memory resources. The impact extends beyond simple service interruption as it can potentially lead to resource exhaustion attacks that affect system availability and can be leveraged as part of broader denial of service campaigns.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-400, which categorizes it as a weakness related to unspecified resource management issues in software systems. This classification reflects the core problem of improper handling of image processing resources during the parsing of malformed data. Additionally, the attack pattern corresponds to techniques documented in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the T1499 category, specifically targeting resource exhaustion and denial of service through application-level vulnerabilities. Organizations using affected versions of Pillow should prioritize immediate patching and implementation of input validation measures to prevent exploitation. The recommended mitigation strategy involves upgrading to Pillow version 2.5.3 or later, which includes enhanced input validation and improved error handling for JPEG 2000 image processing. System administrators should also consider implementing additional security controls such as image file type validation, size limits, and sandboxed processing environments to reduce the attack surface and limit potential impact if exploitation occurs.