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Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical

CVE-2017-17885

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-12-27
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
72/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

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
In ImageMagick 7.0.7-12 Q16, a memory leak vulnerability was found in the function ReadPICTImage in coders/pict.c, which allows attackers to cause a denial of service via a crafted PICT image file.

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

ImageMagick 7.0.7-12 Q16 contains a memory leak in the ReadPICTImage function in coders/pict.c. When processing a specially crafted PICT image file, memory is allocated but not properly freed, leading to resource exhaustion and denial of service.

MitigationUpgrade ImageMagick to a version beyond 7.0.7-12 where this vulnerability is patched, or disable PICT format support in ImageMagick if not required.

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
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 14.04= 16.04= 17.10= 18.04
ImagemagickApplication
Affected:= 7.0.7-12

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
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 ImageMagick version
    Run `convert --version` or `identify --version` and note the reported version number
    Affected if The version shown is exactly 7.0.7-12 (any patch level of this specific release)
  2. Verify PICT format support is available
    Run `identify -list format` and look for PICT in the supported formats list, or run `convert -list configure` and check for PICT-related modules
    Affected if PICT appears as an enabled or available format (the vulnerability only triggers when ImageMagick attempts to process a PICT file)
  3. Confirm PICT coder module exists
    Check for the PICT coder file in the ImageMagick modules directory (commonly found in paths like /usr/lib/ImageMagick-*-Q16/modules-Q16/coders/ or via `convert -configure` output)
    Affected if The PICT coder module file is present on the system and loadable
  4. Assess exposure to PICT file processing
    Review any applications or workflows that process image files to determine if they accept or could receive PICT format input files
    Affected if Your environment processes or could process PICT image files using the vulnerable ImageMagick installation

You are affected if ImageMagick version 7.0.7-12 is installed AND PICT format support is enabled in your ImageMagick configuration, allowing specially crafted PICT files to trigger the memory leak during processing.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade ImageMagick to a version beyond 7.0.7-12 where this vulnerability is patched, or disable PICT format support in ImageMagick if not required.

Fix this in Ubuntu Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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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-2017-17885 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