ImageMagick has infinite loop when writing IPTCTEXT leads to denial of service via crafted profile

Vulnerability

Overview

ImageMagick, a widely used open-source image processing suite, contains a denial-of-service vulnerability in its handling of IPTC metadata. Prior to versions 7.1.2-15 and 6.9.13-40, a specially crafted image profile containing invalid IPTC data can trigger an infinite loop when the software attempts to write the profile using the IPTCTEXT coder [2][4]. The root cause is improper validation of IPTC data structures, causing the parser to never reach a termination condition.

Exploitation

An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by supplying a crafted image file (e.g., via upload or direct processing) that includes a malicious IPTC profile. No authentication or special privileges are required; the attack can be performed remotely if the victim processes the image with ImageMagick. The infinite loop consumes CPU resources, effectively hanging the process and leading to a denial-of-service condition [4].

Impact

Successful exploitation results in a denial of service, as the affected ImageMagick process becomes unresponsive. This can disrupt automated image processing pipelines, web services, or any application relying on ImageMagick for image manipulation. The vulnerability does not lead to code execution or data exfiltration; the primary impact is on availability [2][4].

Mitigation

The vulnerability has been patched in ImageMagick versions 7.1.2-15 and 6.9.13-40 [2][3]. Users are strongly advised to update to these or later versions. For those unable to upgrade, restricting the processing of untrusted image files or disabling the IPTCTEXT coder via policy configuration may serve as a temporary workaround [4].