Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Affected ImageMagick versions can crash from uncontrolled circular MSL references. The documented impact is availability loss, not data theft or tampering. Patched releases are available, so the practical priority is finding exposed ImageMagick installs and updating them.
Executive priority
Treat as a moderate operational risk. It is not documented as exploited and does not indicate confidentiality or integrity impact, but unpatched image-processing systems could be crashed. Patch during the next maintenance window, faster for shared or externally influenced processing environments.
Technical view
CVE-2026-25971 is a CWE-674 uncontrolled recursion issue in ImageMagick ProcessMSLScript. Before 7.1.2-15 and 6.9.13-40, circular references between two MSLs are not checked, causing stack overflow and denial of service. CVSS 3.1 is 6.2 with local attack vector and high availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on systems running affected ImageMagick versions where untrusted local users or automated workflows can invoke MSL processing. The source bundle lists ImageMagick 7.0.0 through before 7.1.2-15 and 6.x before 6.9.13-40.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show active exploitation, and the CVE is not marked KEV. The CVSS vector indicates local access, low complexity, no privileges, and no user interaction, with impact limited to availability.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to the CVE metadata and ImageMagick advisory. No CPEs are provided. Do not infer remote exploitability from the description; use the CVSS local vector unless additional vendor or threat-intelligence evidence appears.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade ImageMagick to 7.1.2-15, 6.9.13-40, or later.
- Prioritize shared hosts, CI workers, and image-processing services using affected versions.
- If upgrade is delayed, restrict untrusted access to ImageMagick and MSL processing.
- Review ImageMagick vendor guidance before applying any compensating controls.
Validation and detection
- Inventory ImageMagick versions across servers, containers, build agents, and application dependencies.
- Confirm affected hosts are below 7.1.2-15 or 6.9.13-40.
- Check whether MSL processing is enabled or used in local workflows.
- After updating, verify ImageMagick reports a patched version.
- Review crash or availability logs for unexplained ImageMagick failures.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-674: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2026-25971 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 6.2 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
SSVC decision data
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H2.53.6GitHub_MVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
6.2MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://github.com/ImageMagick/ImageMagick/security/advisories/GHSA-8mpr-6xr2-chhcCVE reference, GitHub_M · x_refsource_CONFIRM
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Uncontrolled Recursion
Uncontrolled Recursion represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.