Pillow up to 12.3.0 TIFF IFD TiffImagePlugin.py ImageFileDirectory_v2.load memory allocation

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Pillow up to 12.3.0 and classified as problematic. Affected by this issue is the function ImageFileDirectory_v2.load of the file src/PIL/TiffImagePlugin.py of the component TIFF IFD Handler. Such manipulation leads to memory allocation. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2026-128066. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. No exploit is available. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Pillow up to 12.3.0. It has been rated as problematic. Affected by this issue is the function ImageFileDirectory_v2.load of the file src/PIL/TiffImagePlugin.py of the component TIFF IFD Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory allocation vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-789. The product allocates memory based on an untrusted, large size value, but it does not ensure that the size is within expected limits, allowing arbitrary amounts of memory to be allocated. Impacted is availability. CVE summarizes:

Pillow is a Python imaging library. From 1.0 through 12.3.0, ImageFileDirectory_v2.load() in src/PIL/TiffImagePlugin.py retains a separate bytes object for each out-of-line IFD tag value without limiting the total data read or preventing distinct tags from referencing the same file region. A small crafted TIFF or EXIF-bearing JPEG, PNG, WebP, or MPO can therefore cause memory use quadratic in the input size. TIFF and some JPEG paths trigger parsing during Image.open(), while other formats are exposed when EXIF is requested, including through getexif() or ImageOps.exif_transpose(). The declared pixel dimensions do not bound this metadata allocation, so decompression-bomb checks do not prevent process memory exhaustion. This issue is fixed in version 13.0.0.

The advisory is shared for download at github.com. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-128066 since 11/12/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

Upgrading to version 13.0.0 eliminates this vulnerability.

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Productinfo

Name

• Pillow

Version

• 12.0
• 12.1
• 12.2
• 12.3.0

License

• open-source

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