CVE-2021-28675 [Medium] | Denial of Service in Pillow

An issue was discovered in Pillow before 8.2.0. PSDImagePlugin.PsdImageFile lacked a sanity check on the number of input layers relative to the size of the data block. This could lead to a DoS on Image.open prior to Image.load.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	0.11%	0.96%	+0.85%
2	2025-11-21	0.20%	0.11%	-0.08%
3	2025-11-18	—	0.20%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

0.11%

0.96%

+0.85%

2025-11-21

0.20%

0.11%

-0.08%

2025-11-18

—

0.20%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
5.5	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. User interaction (UI:R) A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	1.8	3.6	[email protected]
4.3	2.0	MEDIUM	`AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P` Click to expand Access vector (AV:N) Can be exploited remotely over network reachability. Access complexity (AC:M) Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones. Authentication (AU:N) No authentication is required. Confidentiality impact (C:N) No confidentiality impact. Integrity impact (I:N) No integrity impact. Availability impact (A:P) Partial availability impact.	8.6	2.9	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

5.5

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:L): They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N): No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R): A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

1.8

3.6

[email protected]

4.3

2.0

MEDIUM

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand

Access vector (AV:N): Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M): Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N): No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N): No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N): No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P): Partial availability impact.

8.6

2.9

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-28675

vendor	priority	summary	link
`alpine`	medium	CVE-2021-28675: 1 source package rows (py3-pillow); 8 state rows across 8 repos (3.17-community, 3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community, edge-main); fixed 8, open 0.	https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2021-28675
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2021-28675 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (pillow), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-28675
`gentoo`	normal	CVE-2021-28675: 1 GLSA(s) (202107-33), 1 atom(s) (dev-python/pillow); latest impact normal.	https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2021-28675
`redhat`	medium	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-28675
`suse`	high	CVE-2021-28675 severity important: SUSE including 9 source package names (python-Pillow, python-Pillow-2.8.1-4.22.1, …), 33 product×package rows across 17 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, SUSE Liberty Linux 8, … (17 product lines)): Known Not Affected 21, Fixed 12.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-28675/
`ubuntu`	low	CVE-2021-28675 low priority: Ubuntu including 3 source packages (pillow, pillow-python2, python-imaging), 48 status rows across 16 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 28, released 16, ignored 2, needs-triage 2.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-28675

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-28675

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
python	pillow	< 8.2.0	cpe:2.3:a:python:pillow::::::::
fedoraproject	fedora	33	cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:33:::::::*

References for CVE-2021-28675

URL	Tags
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/MQHA5HAIBOYI3R6HDWCLAGFTIQP767FL/
https://pillow.readthedocs.io/en/stable/releasenotes/8.2.0.html#cve-2021-28675-fix-dos-in-psdimageplugin	Vendor Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202107-33	Third Party Advisory

URL

CVE-2021-28675

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-28675

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-28675

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-28675

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2021-28675

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-28675

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-28675

References for CVE-2021-28675