CVE-2016-10047 in ImageMagick
Summary
by MITRE
Memory leak in the NewXMLTree function in magick/xml-tree.c in ImageMagick before 6.9.4-7 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) via a crafted XML file.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/14/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-10047 represents a critical memory management flaw within ImageMagick's XML processing functionality, specifically affecting versions prior to 6.9.4-7. This issue resides in the NewXMLTree function located within the magick/xml-tree.c source file, where improper memory handling creates opportunities for adversaries to exploit memory consumption patterns. The flaw enables remote attackers to craft malicious XML files that, when processed by vulnerable ImageMagick implementations, trigger excessive memory allocation without proper cleanup, ultimately leading to system resource exhaustion.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through the manipulation of XML parsing operations within ImageMagick's image processing pipeline. When a crafted XML file is processed, the NewXMLTree function fails to properly manage memory allocation during tree construction, resulting in memory leaks that accumulate with each processed file. This memory consumption pattern can be systematically amplified through repeated processing of malicious XML inputs, causing progressive memory depletion on systems running vulnerable versions. The vulnerability manifests as a denial of service condition where legitimate system resources become unavailable due to excessive memory consumption, effectively preventing normal operation of services that depend on ImageMagick for image processing tasks.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to web applications, content management systems, and any service that accepts user-uploaded image files processed through ImageMagick. Attackers can leverage this flaw to consume system resources continuously, potentially leading to system crashes, service unavailability, or performance degradation that affects legitimate users. The remote nature of the attack means that adversaries can exploit this vulnerability without requiring local system access, making it particularly dangerous in multi-tenant environments or cloud services where image processing is exposed to untrusted inputs. Systems running vulnerable versions may experience gradual performance degradation or complete service outages as memory consumption increases over time.
Organizations should prioritize immediate remediation by upgrading to ImageMagick version 6.9.4-7 or later, which includes patches addressing the memory leak in the XML tree processing functionality. Additional mitigations include implementing strict input validation and sanitization for XML content, deploying network-level restrictions to limit XML processing capabilities, and establishing monitoring for unusual memory consumption patterns. Security teams should also consider implementing application firewalls or web application firewalls that can detect and block suspicious XML content patterns. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-401, which describes improper handling of memory allocation failures, and represents a typical denial of service vector that can be exploited through the ATT&CK technique of resource exhaustion. Organizations should conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify all systems utilizing vulnerable ImageMagick versions and ensure proper patch management protocols are in place to prevent similar issues from occurring in the future.