CVE-2022-32547 in ImageMagick
Summary
by MITRE • 06/16/2022
In ImageMagick, there is load of misaligned address for type 'double', which requires 8 byte alignment and for type 'float', which requires 4 byte alignment at MagickCore/property.c. Whenever crafted or untrusted input is processed by ImageMagick, this causes a negative impact to application availability or other problems related to undefined behavior.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/29/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-32547 represents a critical memory alignment issue within ImageMagick's MagickCore component, specifically in the property.c file where improper handling of data types leads to potential system instability and security risks. This flaw manifests when the software processes crafted or untrusted input files, creating conditions that violate strict memory alignment requirements imposed by modern processor architectures. The vulnerability specifically targets the handling of double precision floating point values that require 8-byte alignment and single precision floating point values that need 4-byte alignment, creating a scenario where memory access patterns can cause segmentation faults, application crashes, or unpredictable behavior during image processing operations.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient validation and alignment checks during the parsing of image metadata or property values within the MagickCore library. When ImageMagick encounters specially crafted input data that does not conform to expected memory alignment boundaries, the software attempts to access memory locations that are improperly aligned for the target data types. This misalignment can occur during the processing of image properties, color profiles, or other metadata embedded within image files, particularly affecting formats that support extensive metadata storage such as jpeg, tiff, or png files. The undefined behavior resulting from these alignment violations can manifest in various ways including immediate application crashes, memory corruption, or more subtle issues that may lead to privilege escalation or remote code execution depending on the execution context.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to systems that rely on ImageMagick for image processing, particularly in web applications, content management systems, and file upload handling services. The impact extends beyond simple availability issues to potentially compromise system integrity and security posture when exploited in contexts where ImageMagick processes untrusted input from external sources. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability by crafting malicious image files that, when processed by vulnerable applications, trigger the misaligned memory access conditions. The vulnerability is particularly concerning in environments where automated image processing occurs, as it can lead to denial of service attacks that systematically crash applications or servers, or in more sophisticated attacks where the undefined behavior might be exploited to gain unauthorized access to system resources.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including updating to patched versions of ImageMagick where available, implementing input validation and sanitization measures for all image processing workflows, and configuring applications to use memory protection mechanisms such as stack canaries, address space layout randomization, and heap-based memory protection. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-121 and CWE-122 categories related to improper handling of memory allocation and buffer overflows, while its exploitation patterns correspond to ATT&CK techniques involving privilege escalation and denial of service operations. Security teams should also consider implementing network-based intrusion detection systems to monitor for patterns of malicious image file submissions and establish comprehensive testing procedures for image processing components to identify similar alignment issues in other libraries or applications.