CVE-2016-9559 in ImageMagick
Summary
by MITRE
coders/tiff.c in ImageMagick before 7.0.3.7 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and crash) via a crafted image.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/03/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-9559 represents a critical denial of service flaw within ImageMagick's TIFF image processing component. This vulnerability exists in versions prior to 7.0.3.7 and specifically affects the coders/tiff.c file which handles TIFF image format decoding. The flaw manifests when processing specially crafted TIFF images that contain malformed or maliciously constructed data structures, leading to a NULL pointer dereference condition that ultimately results in application crash. This type of vulnerability falls under the category of software defects that can be exploited by remote attackers without requiring authentication or privileged access, making it particularly dangerous in web-facing applications where users can upload or process arbitrary image files.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability involves constructing a TIFF image file with specific malformed parameters that cause ImageMagick's TIFF decoder to attempt to dereference a NULL pointer during the image parsing process. When the application encounters this condition, it fails to handle the error gracefully and instead terminates abruptly, resulting in a denial of service for legitimate users who may be attempting to process valid images through the same application. This behavior demonstrates a classic lack of proper input validation and error handling within the image processing pipeline, where the software fails to anticipate and manage malformed input data structures that could lead to memory access violations. The vulnerability is categorized as a NULL pointer dereference under CWE-476, which is a common weakness in software systems where pointer variables are not properly validated before use.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risk to systems that utilize ImageMagick for image processing tasks, particularly web applications, content management systems, and any platform that accepts user-uploaded images for processing. The impact extends beyond simple service disruption as attackers can repeatedly exploit this flaw to keep systems unavailable, potentially causing cascading failures in larger networked environments. The vulnerability can be particularly problematic in cloud environments or multi-tenant applications where a single malicious image could affect multiple users or applications running on the same infrastructure. Organizations using ImageMagick in production environments face the risk of sustained denial of service attacks that could result in revenue loss, service degradation, and potential reputational damage. This type of vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004 for network denial of service and represents a critical weakness in application security that could be leveraged as part of broader attack campaigns.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2016-9559 primarily focus on upgrading to ImageMagick version 7.0.3.7 or later, which includes the necessary patches to address the NULL pointer dereference issue. Organizations should also implement comprehensive input validation and sanitization measures for all image processing workflows, including the use of secure coding practices that prevent malformed input from reaching vulnerable components. Additional protective measures include deploying network-based intrusion prevention systems that can detect and block suspicious image file patterns, implementing rate limiting for image processing requests, and establishing proper error handling mechanisms that prevent application crashes from affecting system availability. Security teams should also consider implementing sandboxing techniques for image processing operations and regularly updating their vulnerability management processes to ensure timely patch deployment across all affected systems. The remediation process should include thorough testing of patched versions to ensure that legitimate image processing functionality remains intact while eliminating the vulnerability condition that could be exploited by malicious actors.