Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2026-40916 is a GIMP crash vulnerability triggered by opening a specially crafted TIM image. The disclosed impact is denial of service: the application crashes. The provided sources do not show data theft, privilege escalation, remote compromise, or active exploitation.
Executive priority
Treat as a routine-to-moderate desktop application risk. Prioritize systems used for image handling or exposed to external files. Business impact is application availability, not confirmed system compromise.
Technical view
GIMP’s TIM image loader has a stack buffer overflow in the 4BPP decoding path. The flaw writes unconditionally to a variable-length array, causing a crash. CVSS 3.1 is 5.0 with local access, low complexity, low privileges, and user interaction required.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, 7, 8, and 9 systems with the affected GIMP packages installed. Practical risk centers on users who open untrusted or externally supplied TIM image files.
Exploitation context
The source bundle states this is local and requires a crafted file to be opened. CISA KEV status is false in the provided data. No cited source supports active exploitation or remote attack capability.
Researcher notes
Classified as CWE-787 out-of-bounds write. The affected component is the TIM loader 4BPP decode path. Evidence provided names Red Hat packaged GIMP on RHEL 6 through 9; do not generalize beyond cited affected products without additional vendor data.
Mitigation direction
- Check Red Hat CVE and Bugzilla pages for fixed package availability or official workarounds.
- Update affected GIMP packages when vendor fixes are available.
- Avoid opening untrusted TIM image files until vendor guidance is applied.
- Remove GIMP from systems where it is not required.
Validation and detection
- Inventory RHEL 6, 7, 8, and 9 systems with GIMP installed.
- Identify workflows that receive TIM files from untrusted sources.
- Review Red Hat advisory status for CVE-2026-40916.
- Confirm remediation by verifying installed packages against vendor guidance.
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-787: 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-2026-40916 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
- 5 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H1.33.6redhatVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
5MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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.
- Source timelineredhat
Reported to Red Hat.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- Source timelineredhat
Made public.
- 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://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-40916CVE reference, redhat · vdb-entry, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHBZ#2458745CVE reference, redhat · issue-tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT
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.
Out-of-bounds Write
Out-of-bounds Write represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.