ImageMagick up to 6.9.13-43/7.1.2-18 DestroyXMLTree recursion

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, was found in ImageMagick up to 6.9.13-43/7.1.2-18. This issue affects the function DestroyXMLTree. The manipulation results in recursion. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-33908. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. No exploit is available. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, was found in ImageMagick up to 6.9.13-43/7.1.2-18. Affected is the function DestroyXMLTree. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a recursion vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-674. The product does not properly control the amount of recursion that takes place, consuming excessive resources, such as allocated memory or the program stack. This is going to have an impact on availability. CVE summarizes:

ImageMagick is free and open-source software used for editing and manipulating digital images. In versions below both 7.1.2-19 and 6.9.13-44, Magick frees the memory of the XML tree via the `DestroyXMLTree()` function; however, this process is executed recursively with no depth limit imposed. When Magick processes an XML file with deeply nested structures, it will exhaust the stack memory, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. This issue has been fixed in versions 6.9.13-44 and 7.1.2-19.

The advisory is shared for download at github.com. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-33908 since 03/24/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. The exploitation doesn't require any form of authentication. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The MITRE ATT&CK project declares the attack technique as T1499.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 311220 (Amazon Linux 2 : ImageMagick, --advisory ALAS2-2026-3278 (ALAS-2026-3278)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.9.13-44 or 7.1.2-19 eliminates this vulnerability. The upgrade is hosted for download at github.com. Applying the patch ccdc01180276aa2cb3d4a32a611aa4f417061cd8 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at github.com. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (311220) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-1075). VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Affected

• Amazon Linux 2
• SUSE Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• Open Source ImageMagick

Productinfo

Type

• Image Processing Software

Name

• ImageMagick

Version

• 6.9.13-43
• 7.1.2-18

License

• open-source

Website

• Product: https://www.imagemagick.org/

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VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

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