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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2020-10938

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-03-24
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.3.35 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
GraphicsMagick before 1.3.35 has an integer overflow and resultant heap-based buffer overflow in HuffmanDecodeImage in magick/compress.c.

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

GraphicsMagick before version 1.3.35 contains an integer overflow vulnerability in the HuffmanDecodeImage function within magick/compress.c. This integer overflow leads to a heap-based buffer overflow, which could allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via specially crafted image files processed by the application.

MitigationUpgrade GraphicsMagick to version 1.3.35 or later to patch the integer overflow vulnerability in HuffmanDecodeImage.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0= 9.0= 10.0
GraphicsmagickApplication
Affected:< 1.3.35
BackportsOperating system
Affected:= sle-15
LeapOperating system
Affected:= 15.1

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. Verify GraphicsMagick is installed
    Run 'gm -version' or 'graphicsmagick --version' on the command line, or check for the package using your system's package manager (dpkg -l | grep graphicsmagick, rpm -qa | grep GraphicsMagick, or zypper se graphicsmagick)
    Affected if GraphicsMagick is not installed or the command fails - the system is not affected in that case, but if installed, proceed to version check
  2. Determine the installed GraphicsMagick version
    Execute 'gm -version' and look for the version number in the output (e.g., GraphicsMagick 1.3.34)
    Affected if The version shown is less than 1.3.35 (for example, 1.3.34, 1.3.33, 1.3.30, etc.) - this indicates a vulnerable version
  3. Check package manager version if CLI fails
    Use system package queries: 'dpkg -l | grep -i graphicsmagick' on Debian/Ubuntu, 'rpm -qa | grep -i graphicsmagick' on RHEL/CentOS, or 'zypper se graphicsmagick' on openSUSE - read the version from the package name
    Affected if The package version displayed is earlier than 1.3.35 (for example, 1.3.34-0 or similar) - confirms the vulnerable version is installed
  4. Confirm the vulnerable component exists
    Locate the compress.c file in the GraphicsMagick installation: find /usr -name compress.c 2>/dev/null, or check the installed source/package for magick/compress.c
    Affected if The HuffmanDecodeImage function in magick/compress.c is present in the installed version - the vulnerable code path exists in versions below 1.3.35

A system is affected if GraphicsMagick version 1.3.35 or higher is NOT installed and the software processes untrusted or external image files as input, which would trigger the vulnerable HuffmanDecodeImage code path.

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 1.3.35 or later
Fixed in 1.3.35
Interim mitigation

Upgrade GraphicsMagick to version 1.3.35 or later to patch the integer overflow vulnerability in HuffmanDecodeImage.

Recommended fix High confidence

GraphicsMagick 1.3.35 or later

  1. Check current GraphicsMagick version using 'gm version' or 'identify -version'
  2. Upgrade GraphicsMagick to version 1.3.35 or later using your system's package manager (e.g., 'apt-get update && apt-get upgrade graphicsmagick' for Debian, or 'zypper update GraphicsMagick' for openSUSE Leap)
  3. Verify the upgraded version is 1.3.35 or later

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

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
24.0 hours of engineering $4,160
Get the upgrade done

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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2020-10938 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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