CVE-2026-28688 | ImageMagick has a heap use-after-free in the MSL encoder

ImageMagick is free and open-source software used for editing and manipulating digital images. Prior to versions 7.1.2-16 and 6.9.13-41, a heap-use-after-free vulnerability exists in the MSL encoder, where a cloned image is destroyed twice. The MSL coder does not support writing MSL so the write capability has been removed. This vulnerability is fixed in 7.1.2-16 and 6.9.13-41.

Published: 2026-03-10 Last update: 2026-03-12 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2026-28688 is rated Low Risk (16.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.01%). Low composite risk—no urgent action required; patch on your normal maintenance cycle and revisit priority if CVSS or EPSS increases.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-28688

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 2026-03-10 — 0.01% —

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-28688

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.0 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L 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: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:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 2.5 1.4 [email protected]
5.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L 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:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 3.9 1.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-28688

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-28688

GHSA-xxw5-m53x-j38c · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: nuget — ImageMagick has heap use-after-free in the MSL encoder

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-28688

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2026-28688: 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-2026-28688
debian not yet assigned CVE-2026-28688 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-2026-28688
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-28688
suse medium CVE-2026-28688 severity moderate: SUSE including 77 source package names (ImageMagick-7.1.0.9-150400.6.75.1, ImageMagick-7.1.1.21-150600.3.50.1, …), 242 product×package rows across 29 product lines (Image SLE-Micro, Image SLE-Micro-Azure, … (29 product lines)): Fixed 144, First Fixed 98. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-28688/
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-28688 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (imagemagick), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): needs-triage 8. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-28688

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-28688

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
imagemagick imagemagick < 6.9.13-41 cpe:2.3:a:imagemagick:imagemagick:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
imagemagick imagemagick >= 7.0.0-0, < 7.1.2-16 cpe:2.3:a:imagemagick:imagemagick:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-28688

cvelogic Threat Intelligence