Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2026-61870 is a low-severity denial-of-service issue in ImageMagick’s VIFF image encoder. A specially crafted VIFF image can cause memory leaks when allocation fails, potentially exhausting memory during processing. It does not indicate data theft or code execution in the provided sources.
Executive priority
Handle through normal patch management unless ImageMagick processes untrusted images in critical services. Prioritize internet-facing upload or conversion pipelines because the main business impact is service degradation, not compromise.
Technical view
ImageMagick before 7.1.2-26 has a CWE-401 memory leak in the VIFF encoder during memory allocation failure handling. CVSS 3.1 is 2.9, with local attack vector, high attack complexity, no privileges, no user interaction, and low availability impact only.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most relevant where ImageMagick processes VIFF files or untrusted image content. Business risk is limited but can affect availability of image-processing workers, batch jobs, or services if memory is exhausted.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show active exploitation, and KEV status is false. Exploitation requires triggering allocation failure through crafted VIFF processing. The CVSS vector rates the attack as local and high complexity.
Researcher notes
Evidence points to a memory leak in VIFF encoder failure paths. The provided affected data references 7.1.2-26 and also lists 6.9.13-51, but branch-specific impact is not fully explained in the bundle. No exploit availability is cited.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade ImageMagick 7.x to 7.1.2-26 or later where applicable.
- Review the vendor advisory for 6.x branch status before assuming coverage.
- Limit processing of untrusted VIFF files if business workflows do not require them.
- Apply resource limits to image-processing workers to reduce denial-of-service impact.
Validation and detection
- Inventory ImageMagick versions across servers, containers, and build images.
- Identify services that process VIFF or untrusted image files.
- Confirm upgraded systems report a fixed ImageMagick version.
- Monitor image-processing jobs for abnormal memory growth or crashes.
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
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CWE-401: Exact CWE lookup
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Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2026-61870 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
- Low
- CVSS
- 2.9 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
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.
CVSS vector scores
2 official scoresWe 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:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L1.41.4VulnCheckCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N——VulnCheckVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 4.0 score
2.1LowVector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Base CVSS 3.1 score
2.9LowVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
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.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- GitHub Security Advisory (GHSA-m596-67p7-69wh)CVE reference, VulnCheck · vendor-advisory
- VulnCheck Advisory: ImageMagick before 7.1.2-26 Memory Leak via VIFF EncoderCVE reference, VulnCheck · third-party-advisory
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.
Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime
Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.