CVE-2026-28689 | ImageMagick has a Path Policy TOCTOU symlink race bypass

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, domain="path" authorization is checked before final file open/use. A symlink swap between check-time and use-time bypasses policy-denied read/write. 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-2026-28689 is rated Low Risk (25.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.11%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2026-28689

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 2026-06-15 0.02% 0.11% +0.09%
2 2026-03-10 — 0.02% —

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-28689

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N 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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.0 5.2 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-28689

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-28689

GHSA-493f-jh8w-qhx3 · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: nuget — ImageMagick has a Path Policy TOCTOU symlink race bypass

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-28689

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2026-28689: 1 source package rows (imagemagick); 82 state rows across 2 repos (3.23-community, edge-community); fixed 6, open 76. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2026-28689
debian not yet assigned CVE-2026-28689 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-2026-28689
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-28689
suse medium CVE-2026-28689 severity moderate: SUSE including 85 source package names (GraphicsMagick, GraphicsMagick-devel, …), 258 product×package rows across 30 product lines (Image SLE-Micro, Image SLE-Micro-Azure, … (30 product lines)): Fixed 144, First Fixed 98, Known Not Affected 16. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-28689/
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-28689 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-2026-28689

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-28689

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-2026-28689

cvelogic Threat Intelligence