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ImageMagick has memory leak of watermark Image object in ReadSTEGANOImage on multiple error/early-return paths

Moderate severity GitHub Reviewed Published Feb 23, 2026 in ImageMagick/ImageMagick • Updated Feb 24, 2026

Package

nuget Magick.NET-Q16-AnyCPU (NuGet)

Affected versions

< 14.10.3

Patched versions

14.10.3
nuget Magick.NET-Q16-HDRI-AnyCPU (NuGet)
< 14.10.3
14.10.3
nuget Magick.NET-Q16-HDRI-OpenMP-arm64 (NuGet)
< 14.10.3
14.10.3
nuget Magick.NET-Q16-HDRI-OpenMP-x64 (NuGet)
< 14.10.3
14.10.3
nuget Magick.NET-Q16-HDRI-arm64 (NuGet)
< 14.10.3
14.10.3
nuget Magick.NET-Q16-HDRI-x64 (NuGet)
< 14.10.3
14.10.3
nuget Magick.NET-Q16-HDRI-x86 (NuGet)
< 14.10.3
14.10.3
nuget Magick.NET-Q16-OpenMP-arm64 (NuGet)
< 14.10.3
14.10.3
nuget Magick.NET-Q16-OpenMP-x64 (NuGet)
< 14.10.3
14.10.3
nuget Magick.NET-Q16-OpenMP-x86 (NuGet)
< 14.10.3
14.10.3
nuget Magick.NET-Q16-arm64 (NuGet)
< 14.10.3
14.10.3
nuget Magick.NET-Q16-x64 (NuGet)
< 14.10.3
14.10.3
nuget Magick.NET-Q16-x86 (NuGet)
< 14.10.3
14.10.3
nuget Magick.NET-Q8-AnyCPU (NuGet)
< 14.10.3
14.10.3
nuget Magick.NET-Q8-OpenMP-arm64 (NuGet)
< 14.10.3
14.10.3
nuget Magick.NET-Q8-arm64 (NuGet)
< 14.10.3
14.10.3
nuget Magick.NET-Q8-x64 (NuGet)
< 14.10.3
14.10.3
nuget Magick.NET-Q8-x86 (NuGet)
< 14.10.3
14.10.3

Description

Summary

In ReadSTEGANOImage() (coders/stegano.c), the watermark Image object is not freed on three early-return paths, resulting in a definite memory leak (~13.5KB+ per invocation) that can be exploited for denial of service.

Direct leak of 13512 byte(s) in 1 object(s) allocated from:
    #0 0x7f5c11e27887 in __interceptor_malloc ../../../../src/libsanitizer/asan/asan_malloc_linux.cpp:145
    #1 0x55cdc38f65c4 in AcquireMagickMemory MagickCore/memory.c:536
    #2 0x55cdc38f65eb in AcquireCriticalMemory MagickCore/memory.c:612
    #3 0x55cdc3899e91 in AcquireImage MagickCore/image.c:154

References

@dlemstra dlemstra published to ImageMagick/ImageMagick Feb 23, 2026
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Feb 24, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Feb 24, 2026
Reviewed Feb 24, 2026
Last updated Feb 24, 2026

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Low

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(12th percentile)

Weaknesses

Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime

The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, making the memory unavailable for reallocation and reuse. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2026-25796

GHSA ID

GHSA-g2pr-qxjg-7r2w

Source code

Credits

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