CVE-2026-23952 | ImageMagick has a NULL pointer dereference in MSL parser via <comment> tag before image load

Exp

ImageMagick is free and open-source software used for editing and manipulating digital images. Versions 14.10.1 and below have a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability in the MSL (Magick Scripting Language) parser when processing <comment> tags before images are loaded. This can lead to DoS attack due to assertion failure (debug builds) or NULL pointer dereference (release builds). This issue is fixed in version 14.10.2.

Published: 2026-01-22 Last update: 2026-02-27 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2026-23952 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.04%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2026-23952

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-23952

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-01-22 — 0.04% —

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-23952

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
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.
 2.8 3.6 [email protected]
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
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:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
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.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-23952

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-23952

GHSA-5vx3-wx4q-6cj8 · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: nuget — ImageMagick has a NULL pointer dereference in MSL parser via <comment> tag before image load

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-23952

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2026-23952: 1 source package rows (imagemagick); 82 state rows across 2 repos (3.23-community, edge-community); fixed 0, open 82. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2026-23952
debian not yet assigned CVE-2026-23952 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (imagemagick), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-23952
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-23952
suse medium CVE-2026-23952 severity moderate: SUSE including 88 source package names (2.2.1-5.54:rsync-3.3.0-slfo.1.1_4.1, 2.2.1-5.62:rsync-3.3.0-slfo.1.1_4.1, …), 261 product×package rows across 41 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.1/baremetal-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.1/base-os-container, … (41 product lines)): Fixed 231, Known Not Affected 16, First Fixed 14. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-23952/
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-23952 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (imagemagick), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 7, needed 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-23952

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-23952

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
imagemagick imagemagick < 6.9.13-38 cpe:2.3:a:imagemagick:imagemagick:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
imagemagick imagemagick >= 7.0.0-0, < 7.1.2-13 cpe:2.3:a:imagemagick:imagemagick:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
dlemstra magick.net < 14.10.2 cpe:2.3:a:dlemstra:magick.net:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-23952

cvelogic Threat Intelligence