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LinuxOperating system · Oracle

CVE-2016-5118

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2016-06-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.3.23 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 OpenBlob function in blob.c in GraphicsMagick before 1.3.24 and ImageMagick allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a | (pipe) character at the start of a filename.

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

Command injection vulnerability in the OpenBlob function in blob.c allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary shell commands by prefixing a filename with a pipe (|) character. This affects GraphicsMagick before version 1.3.24 and ImageMagick installations.

MitigationUpgrade to GraphicsMagick 1.3.24 or later (or patched ImageMagick version). Additionally, implement strict input validation to reject filenames containing shell metacharacters like pipe characters.

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
LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 6= 7
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 12.04= 14.04= 15.10= 16.04
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0
GraphicsmagickApplication
Affected:<= 1.3.23
Linux Enterprise DebuginfoApplication
Affected:= 11
Studio OnsiteApplication
Affected:= 1.3
Linux Enterprise Software Development KitOperating system
Affected:= 11= 12= 12.0
SolarisOperating system
Affected:= 10= 11.3

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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. Check if GraphicsMagick is installed
    Run `gm version` or `gm --version` to see if GraphicsMagick is present on the system
    Affected if The command executes successfully and GraphicsMagick is found
  2. Identify the GraphicsMagick version
    Examine the output from `gm version` and note the version number (e.g., 1.3.x)
    Affected if The version is 1.3.23 or earlier
  3. Check if ImageMagick is installed as fallback
    Run `convert --version` or `identify --version` to see if ImageMagick is present
    Affected if ImageMagick is installed and may be unpatched
  4. Verify the OpenBlob function is in use
    Confirm the software is being used to process image files - this is core functionality so any image processing task triggers it
    Affected if The system processes image files using GraphicsMagick or ImageMagick
  5. Inspect logs for pipe character patterns (optional)
    Review application logs or image processing logs for filenames containing '|' characters that may indicate exploitation attempts
    Affected if Suspicious patterns with pipe characters are found in logs

The system is affected if GraphicsMagick version 1.3.23 or earlier, or an unpatched ImageMagick installation, is present and processing image files using the OpenBlob function.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 1.3.23
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to GraphicsMagick 1.3.24 or later (or patched ImageMagick version). Additionally, implement strict input validation to reject filenames containing shell metacharacters like pipe characters.

Recommended fix High confidence

GraphicsMagick 1.3.24

  1. Check current GraphicsMagick version using: convert -version or gm version
  2. For Debian/Ubuntu: Run 'sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install graphicsmagick' to get the latest available version
  3. For RHEL/CentOS: Run 'sudo yum update GraphicsMagick' or 'sudo dnf update GraphicsMagick'
  4. For openSUSE: Run 'sudo zypper update graphicsmagick'
  5. Verify the installed version is 1.3.24 or higher using: convert -version
  6. If the package manager does not offer 1.3.24+, consider building from source or waiting for distribution security patches
Caveat Minor version upgrades typically maintain backward compatibility but test critical image processing workflows after upgrade

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

Fix this in Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,840
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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-2016-5118 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