CVE-2016-7524 in ImageMagick
Summary
by MITRE
coders/meta.c in ImageMagick allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds read) via a crafted file.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/27/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-7524 represents a critical out-of-bounds read flaw within ImageMagick's meta coder component, specifically in the coders/meta.c file. This security weakness affects the widely used image processing library that is integral to numerous applications across various platforms and operating systems. The flaw enables remote attackers to trigger a denial of service condition by crafting malicious image files that exploit improper input validation mechanisms within the meta coder module. When ImageMagick processes these specially constructed files, the out-of-bounds read operation can cause the application to crash or behave unpredictably, effectively denying service to legitimate users who attempt to process valid image files.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from inadequate bounds checking within the meta coder implementation, which fails to properly validate the size and structure of metadata contained within image files. This type of flaw falls under the Common Weakness Enumeration category CWE-129, which specifically addresses insufficient validation of length of input buffers. The vulnerability manifests when the application attempts to read memory locations beyond the allocated buffer boundaries, potentially leading to application crashes or memory corruption that can be exploited for more sophisticated attacks. The out-of-bounds read occurs during the parsing of metadata fields within image files, where the application does not properly verify that the data being read remains within the confines of the allocated memory space.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to systems that rely on ImageMagick for image processing tasks, particularly web applications and services that accept user-uploaded images. The remote exploitation capability means that attackers can potentially disrupt services without requiring local access or authentication, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous in web-facing environments. The denial of service impact can be severe for applications that depend on ImageMagick for image handling, as even a single malicious file can cause the entire application or service to become unavailable. This vulnerability affects not only standalone applications but also web servers, content management systems, and other platforms that utilize ImageMagick as part of their image processing pipeline, potentially leading to widespread service disruption.
The mitigation strategies for CVE-2016-7524 primarily involve updating to patched versions of ImageMagick where the bounds checking has been properly implemented to prevent out-of-bounds memory access. System administrators should prioritize applying security patches from the ImageMagick project or their respective operating system vendors to address this vulnerability. Additional protective measures include implementing input validation controls at the application level, where user-uploaded files are sanitized before being processed by ImageMagick, and configuring proper file type restrictions to prevent the processing of potentially malicious image files. Organizations should also consider implementing network-level filtering to restrict access to image processing services and deploy intrusion detection systems to monitor for exploitation attempts. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under the T1499.004 technique for avoiding detection, as the denial of service nature makes exploitation less obvious than other attack vectors, while also potentially serving as a precursor to more sophisticated attacks that could leverage the memory corruption for privilege escalation or code execution.