CVE-2026-14454 in Imager
Summary
by MITRE • 07/08/2026
Imager versions before 1.033 for Perl treat unsigned EXIF IFD entry counts as signed.
Imager mishandled large EXIF IFD entry count values, treating them as negative numbers. This could lead to an attempt to allocate a block nearly the size of the address space, which fails and kills the process.
An attacker could craft an image with EXIF data that terminates a worker process.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/08/2026
The vulnerability in Imager versions prior to 1.033 represents a critical integer overflow and type conversion flaw that manifests when processing EXIF metadata within image files. This issue stems from the improper handling of unsigned EXIF IFD (Image File Directory) entry counts, where the software fails to correctly interpret the signed nature of these values during processing operations. The flaw exists at the core of how the library manages metadata parsing, specifically when encountering large IFD entry count values that exceed the range of signed integer representation.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs when the Imager library processes EXIF data containing unusually large IFD entry counts. When these unsigned values are improperly cast or interpreted as signed integers, they can overflow into negative values due to the limited bit width of the underlying integer types. This misinterpretation leads to catastrophic memory allocation attempts where the system tries to allocate memory blocks approaching the size of the entire virtual address space, typically resulting in allocation failures and subsequent process termination.
The operational impact of this vulnerability creates a reliable denial-of-service condition that allows remote attackers to terminate worker processes through carefully crafted image files containing malicious EXIF data. Attackers can exploit this weakness by creating images with specific EXIF metadata structures that contain large IFD entry count values, effectively triggering the integer overflow condition and causing the targeted process to crash. This vulnerability is particularly concerning in web applications or services that process user-uploaded images, as it provides a straightforward method for disrupting service availability without requiring sophisticated exploitation techniques.
This vulnerability maps directly to CWE-190, Integer Overflow or Wraparound, and specifically relates to CWE-128, Wrapfrom Signed to Unsigned, which describes the improper conversion between signed and unsigned integer types. The attack pattern aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004, Network Denial of Service, where an attacker leverages software flaws to cause service disruption. The flaw represents a classic buffer over-read and allocation error scenario that demonstrates poor input validation and type handling practices in image processing libraries. Organizations should implement immediate patching strategies to address this vulnerability across all systems processing EXIF metadata, while also considering additional input sanitization measures to prevent similar issues in other components of their image processing pipelines.
The memory allocation failure occurs because the system attempts to reserve virtual address space proportional to the malformed IFD entry count value, creating a scenario where the operating system cannot fulfill the request due to either insufficient memory or the excessive size requirements. This particular vulnerability does not appear to enable code execution or privilege escalation but provides a reliable method for process termination that can be exploited at scale to disrupt services or applications relying on Imager for image processing tasks. The fix typically involves proper type checking and bounds validation when handling EXIF IFD entry counts, ensuring that unsigned values are correctly interpreted without overflow conditions that could lead to memory allocation failures.