CVE-2016-10067 in ImageMagick
Summary
by MITRE
magick/memory.c in ImageMagick before 6.9.4-5 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via vectors involving "too many exceptions," which trigger a buffer overflow.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/03/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-10067 represents a critical denial of service flaw within ImageMagick's memory management subsystem. This issue resides in the magick/memory.c file and affects versions prior to 6.9.4-5, making it a significant concern for systems that rely on ImageMagick for image processing operations. The vulnerability manifests when the application encounters "too many exceptions" during processing, which subsequently triggers a buffer overflow condition that can lead to application instability and complete crash.
The technical nature of this flaw stems from inadequate exception handling mechanisms within the memory management code. When ImageMagick processes certain malformed or specially crafted image files, the system accumulates exceptions beyond its allocated buffer capacity. This overflow occurs because the application fails to properly validate or limit the number of exceptions that can be stored in memory, creating a scenario where malicious input can cause the buffer to exceed its boundaries. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it can be exploited remotely through web applications or services that utilize ImageMagick for image handling without proper input sanitization.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a substantial risk to organizations that deploy ImageMagick in production environments, particularly web applications, content management systems, and file processing services. Attackers can leverage this flaw to systematically crash services by submitting specially crafted image files that trigger the exception overflow condition. The impact extends beyond simple service disruption as it can be used in conjunction with other attack vectors to create persistent availability issues. Systems running vulnerable versions of ImageMagick may experience complete application crashes, requiring manual intervention and potentially leading to extended downtime for affected services.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-121, which addresses stack-based buffer overflow conditions, and demonstrates characteristics consistent with the ATT&CK technique T1499.004, specifically network denial of service through resource exhaustion. Organizations should implement immediate mitigation strategies including updating to ImageMagick version 6.9.4-5 or later, which contains patches addressing the exception handling flaw. Additionally, deploying input validation mechanisms and implementing proper resource limits for image processing operations can help reduce the attack surface. Network segmentation and monitoring for unusual processing patterns can provide early detection of potential exploitation attempts, while regular security assessments should verify that all systems utilizing ImageMagick have been properly updated to prevent this vulnerability from being leveraged in broader attack campaigns.