CVE-2026-25971 is a medium severity flaw (CVSS 6.2) in ImageMagick, where two MSL files that refer to each other cause a stack overflow because circular references are not checked. The weakness classes are CWE-674, uncontrolled recursion, and CWE-787. Upgrade to ImageMagick 7.1.2-15 or 6.9.13-40, the patched releases. It is not listed in CISA's KEV catalog.
What's affected
- ImageMagick 7.x before 7.1.2-15
- ImageMagick 6.9.x before 6.9.13-40
- Fixed in 7.1.2-15 and 6.9.13-40
The advisory lists no workaround. Upgrading is the remedy it names. Many other products embed ImageMagick through libraries such as Magick++, so the version of the command line tool on your laptop may not be the one that matters.
How to check if you're exposed
Check the version of the tool on each host that converts images:
magick -version
convert -version
The second command covers older 6.x installs. Then look for bundled copies: language bindings, container images and application packages that ship their own ImageMagick. A system package manager only reports what it installed itself.
Safeguard has a free in-browser dependency scan at https://gold.safeguard.sh/scan that reads a manifest or lockfile and flags known vulnerable packages, with no repository access needed. For container images, check the package list of the image rather than the host.
What to do now
- Upgrade to 7.1.2-15 or 6.9.13-40 or later, through your distribution package or by rebuilding from the project's release.
- Rebuild and redeploy container images and applications that bundle ImageMagick, then confirm the version inside the running image.
- Find the services that accept uploads from users or fetch images from outside and note which ones call ImageMagick.
- Where upgrading must wait, limit which formats ImageMagick will decode using its policy file, which is a general hardening step and not something this advisory prescribes.
- Keep ImageMagick in your software inventory so the next advisory is a lookup, not a search.
Why it matters
The advisory states it briefly: Magick fails to check for circular references between two MSLs, and that leads to a stack overflow. Uncontrolled recursion is a familiar pattern. Each nested call uses stack space, and if nothing stops the loop the process runs out and dies.
The score of 6.2 comes from a local attack vector with availability impact only. In practice, the realistic result is a crash of whatever process handles the file, which matters most for workers that batch convert files from many sources.
The class matters for triage. Image decoders run on bytes you do not control, so any memory safety bug in a coder is reachable wherever your product accepts an image. Reachability analysis helps here: it shows whether your code actually calls the vulnerable coder, so you can order the upgrades by real exposure instead of by score alone.
Quick check
Is this one exploited in the wild?
The record does not flag it as a CISA KEV entry, and the advisory we read does not report exploitation. Treat it as a patch-soon item, not an incident.
Is this a remote attack?
The CVSS vector in the record is local, so the score assumes the attacker has a way to get the file processed on the host. A service that converts uploads can supply that path, so look at how files reach ImageMagick.
Sources
Last reviewed: 19 October 2026.
