ImageMagick: use of uninitialized memory in RLE decoder
Published May 19, 2017
7.5
HIGHCVSS 3.1
EPSS 3.57%
Description
ImageMagick before 7.0.5-2 and GraphicsMagick before 1.3.24 use uninitialized memory in the RLE decoder, allowing an attacker to leak sensitive information from process memory space, as demonstrated by remote attacks against ImageMagick code in a long-running server process that converts image data on behalf of multiple users. This is caused by a missing initialization step in the ReadRLEImage function in coders/rle.c.
Affected products
No data.
Configuration 1
- < 6.9.8-1
- ≥ 7.0.0-0 · < 7.0.5-2
Configuration 2
- < 1.3.24
Configuration 3
- 8.0
- 9.0
No data.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
ImageMagick
Will not fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
ImageMagick
Will not fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
ImageMagick
Will not fix
Red Hat OpenShift Enterprise 2
ImageMagick
Will not fix
| Product | Package | State | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 | ImageMagick | Will not fix | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | ImageMagick | Will not fix | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | ImageMagick | Will not fix | n/a |
| Red Hat OpenShift Enterprise 2 | ImageMagick | Will not fix | n/a |
No package ranges for this CVE.
Remediation
Red Hat statement
Red Hat Product Security has rated this issue as having Moderate security impact. This issue is not currently planned to be addressed in future updates. For additional information, refer to the Issue Severity Classification: https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/.
Red Hat mitigation
Forcefully disable the RLE decoder from being used, for example by renaming ImageMagick's rle.so library: RHEL6 mitigation: 32bit: mv /usr/lib/ImageMagick-6.7.2/modules-Q16/coders/rle.so /usr/lib/ImageMagick-6.7.2/modules-Q16/coders/rle.so.CVE-2017-9098 64bit: mv /usr/lib64/ImageMagick-6.7.2/modules-Q16/coders/rle.so /usr/lib64/ImageMagick-6.7.2/modules-Q16/coders/rle.so.CVE-2017-9098 RHEL7 mitigation: 32bit: mv /usr/lib/ImageMagick-6.7.8/modules-Q16/coders/rle.so /usr/lib/ImageMagick-6.7.8/modules-Q16/coders/rle.so.CVE-2017-9098 64bit: mv /usr/lib64/ImageMagick-6.7.8/modules-Q16/coders/rle.so /usr/lib64/ImageMagick-6.7.8/modules-Q16/coders/rle.so.CVE-2017-9098 If you are using the glibc heap implementation (default), it may also be possible to set the "MALLOC_PERTURB_" environment variable to a non-zero value before launching the process using ImageMagick. This should forcefully initialize the memory, but may reduce performance. Ensure proper testing before using these methods.
Metrics
No CVSS v4.0 score for this CVE.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N
This CVE is not in the KEV list.
No CISA SSVC assessment for this CVE yet.
Estimated probability of exploitation in the wild in the next 30 days (FIRST EPSS). As of Oct 2, 2026.
Score over time
2021–2026- EPSS v1
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Percentile over time
- EPSS v1
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Table of values (17 key points)
Flat stretches are collapsed; showing up to 120 newest points.
| Date | Score | Percentile | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2, 2026 | 3.57% (0.03569) | 88.99th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jun 15, 2026 | 3.57% (0.03569) | 87.83th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Mar 30, 2025 | 1.46% (0.01460) | 79.05th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Mar 29, 2025 | 2.91% (0.02908) | 77.27th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Mar 17, 2025 | 1.46% (0.01460) | 79.51th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Dec 12, 2024 | 0.26% (0.00263) | 66.48th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Feb 8, 2024 | 0.26% (0.00263) | 65.02th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| May 8, 2023 | 0.26% (0.00263) | 62.38th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 7, 2023 | 0.29% (0.00287) | 63.84th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 6, 2023 | 1.11% (0.01108) | 55.18th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Sep 17, 2022 | 1.11% (0.01108) | 53.57th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Apr 1, 2022 | 1.11% (0.01108) | 51.54th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 4, 2022 | 1.11% (0.01108) | 29.61th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 3, 2022 | 1.45% (0.01454) | 32.67th | v1 |
| Jan 6, 2022 | 1.45% (0.01454) | 31.96th | v1 |
| Sep 1, 2021 | 1.45% (0.01454) | 71.88th | v1 |
| Apr 14, 2021 | 1.45% (0.01454) | 0.00th | v1 |
References (10)
- http://hg.code.sf.net/p/graphicsmagick/code/diff/0a5b75e019b6/coders/rle.c x_refsource_MISCPatchThird Party Advisory
- http://www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-3863 vendor-advisoryx_refsource_DEBIANThird Party Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/98593 vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-9098 Vendor Advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1453124 Issue Tracking
- https://github.com/ImageMagick/ImageMagick/commit/1c358ffe0049f768dd49a8a889c1cbf99ac9849b x_refsource_MISCPatchThird Party Advisory
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/08/msg00002.html mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTMailing ListThird Party Advisory
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-9098
- https://scarybeastsecurity.blogspot.com/2017/05/bleed-continues-18-byte-file-14k-bounty.html x_refsource_MISCExploitTechnical DescriptionThird Party Advisory
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-9098
| Link | Providers | Tags |
|---|---|---|
| http://hg.code.sf.net/p/graphicsmagick/code/diff/0a5b75e019b6/coders/rle.c | x_refsource_MISCPatchThird Party Advisory | |
| http://www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-3863 | vendor-advisoryx_refsource_DEBIANThird Party Advisory | |
| http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/98593 | vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry | |
| https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-9098 | Vendor Advisory | |
| https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1453124 | Issue Tracking | |
| https://github.com/ImageMagick/ImageMagick/commit/1c358ffe0049f768dd49a8a889c1cbf99ac9849b | x_refsource_MISCPatchThird Party Advisory | |
| https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/08/msg00002.html | mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTMailing ListThird Party Advisory | |
| https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-9098 | ||
| https://scarybeastsecurity.blogspot.com/2017/05/bleed-continues-18-byte-file-14k-bounty.html | x_refsource_MISCExploitTechnical DescriptionThird Party Advisory | |
| https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-9098 |
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.