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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 3 May 2022.
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system · Redhat

CVE-2016-3715

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2016-05-05
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
97/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Public exploit No privileges Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The EPHEMERAL coder in ImageMagick before 6.9.3-10 and 7.x before 7.0.1-1 allows remote attackers to delete arbitrary files via a crafted image.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The EPHEMERAL coder in ImageMagick allows remote attackers to delete arbitrary files on the system by providing a specially crafted image file containing a path to the file to be deleted. This occurs because the coder processes instructions embedded in the image that specify file deletion without proper path sanitization, enabling path traversal attacks.

MitigationUpgrade ImageMagick to version 6.9.3-10 or later (7.x to 7.0.1-1 or later). If immediate patching is not feasible, disable the EPHEMERAL coder in ImageMagick's policy configuration or ensure untrusted images are not processed without proper sandboxing and input validation.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system
Affected:= 6.0= 7.0
Enterprise Linux EusOperating system
Affected:= 6.7= 7.2= 7.3= 7.4= 7.5= 7.6= 7.7
Enterprise Linux For Ibm Z SystemsOperating system
Affected:= 6.0_s390x= 7.0_s390x
Enterprise Linux For Ibm Z Systems EusOperating system
Affected:= 6.7_s390x= 7.2_s390x= 7.3_s390x= 7.4_s390x= 7.5_s390x= 7.6_s390x= 7.7_s390x
Enterprise Linux For Power Big EndianOperating system
Affected:= 6.0_ppc64= 7.0_ppc64
Enterprise Linux For Power Big Endian EusOperating system
Affected:= 6.7_ppc64= 7.2_ppc64= 7.3_ppc64= 7.4_ppc64= 7.5_ppc64= 7.6_ppc64= 7.7_ppc64
Enterprise Linux For Power Little EndianOperating system
Affected:= 7.0_ppc64le
Enterprise Linux For Power Little Endian EusOperating system
Affected:= 7.2_ppc64le= 7.3_ppc64le= 7.4_ppc64le= 7.5_ppc64le= 7.6_ppc64le= 7.7_ppc64le

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify ImageMagick version
    Run 'rpm -q ImageMagick' on RHEL-based systems, or 'convert -version' to see the version number
    Affected if The installed version falls within the affected RHEL versions listed (6.0, 6.7, 7.0-7.7 across all architectures)
  2. Locate the EPHEMERAL coder
    Find the coders directory - typically /usr/lib64/ImageMagick-*//modules-Q16/coders/ or /usr/lib/ImageMagick-*/modules/coders/. Check for a file named 'ephemeral.so' or 'EPHEMERAL.la'
    Affected if The EPHEMERAL coder binary exists in the ImageMagick coders directory
  3. Check ImageMagick policy configuration
    Examine /etc/ImageMagick/policy.xml or the equivalent policy file. Look for a '<coder>' or '<policy>' entry that restricts or allows the EPHEMERAL coder
    Affected if No restriction exists for the EPHEMERAL coder, or the policy explicitly allows it
  4. Test if EPHEMERAL coder loads
    Run 'identify -list configure | grep DELEGATES' to see enabled delegates, or attempt to process a file that triggers the EPHEMERAL coder
    Affected if The EPHEMERAL coder is operational and can process image files with embedded deletion instructions

You are affected if ImageMagick is installed at a vulnerable RHEL version listed in the advisory AND the EPHEMERAL coder is present and not disabled in the ImageMagick policy configuration.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch git.imagemagick.org →
Interim mitigation

Upgrade ImageMagick to version 6.9.3-10 or later (7.x to 7.0.1-1 or later). If immediate patching is not feasible, disable the EPHEMERAL coder in ImageMagick's policy configuration or ensure untrusted images are not processed without proper sandboxing and input validation.

Recommended fix High confidence

ImageMagick 6.9.3-10+ or 7.0.1-1+

  1. Update the system package cache: yum check-update or dnf check-update
  2. Install the updated ImageMagick package: yum update ImageMagick or dnf update ImageMagick
  3. Restart any services that use ImageMagick to ensure the new version is loaded
  4. Verify the installed version is 6.9.3-10 or later for ImageMagick 6.x, or 7.0.1-1 or later for ImageMagick 7.x using: rpm -q ImageMagick
Caveat Review application compatibility with the new ImageMagick version before deploying to production

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Enterprise Linux Desktop Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-3715 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data