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GimpApplication

CVE-2023-44444

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2024-05-03
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.10.36 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
High EPSS 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
GIMP PSP File Parsing Off-By-One Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of GIMP. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file. The specific flaw exists within the parsing of PSP files. Crafted data in a PSP file can trigger an off-by-one error when calculating a location to write within a heap-based buffer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of the current process. . Was ZDI-CAN-22097.

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

GIMP's PSP (Paint Shop Pro) file parser contains an off-by-one error when calculating a memory write location within a heap-based buffer. When processing a specially crafted PSP file, the parser incorrectly computes an offset, leading to a one-byte overflow that can corrupt adjacent heap memory and potentially allow arbitrary code execution in the context of the current process.

MitigationUsers should avoid opening PSP files from untrusted or unknown sources. The official remediation is a patch from GIMP developers that corrects the bounds checking logic in the PSP file parser to prevent the off-by-one write condition.

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
GimpApplication
Affected:< 2.10.36

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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. Confirm GIMP is installed
    Check for the gimp executable on the system (e.g., run 'which gimp' on Linux, check common installation paths on Windows, or look in /Applications on macOS)
    Affected if GIMP is not present on the system, the vulnerability does not apply
  2. Determine the installed GIMP version
    Run 'gimp --version' from command line, or right-click the GIMP executable and view version details (on Windows check Properties > Details, on Linux check the package manager or binary)
    Affected if Unable to determine version - manual verification needed
  3. Compare version to affected range
    Compare the installed version number against the affected range: any version below 2.10.36 is affected (e.g., 2.10.34, 2.10.32, 2.10.0, etc.)
    Affected if Installed version is less than 2.10.36 (e.g., 2.10.34 or earlier)
  4. Identify PSP file processing vector
    Note that the vulnerability is triggered specifically when GIMP opens a PSP (Paint Shop Pro) format file - the PSP file parser contains the off-by-one flaw in the memory write calculation
    Affected if The vulnerable version (below 2.10.36) is used to open PSP files from untrusted sources

A user is affected if GIMP version 2.10.35 or earlier is installed and PSP files can be opened with it, as the off-by-one heap overflow triggers during PSP file parsing.

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 2.10.36 or later
Fixed in 2.10.36
Interim mitigation

Users should avoid opening PSP files from untrusted or unknown sources. The official remediation is a patch from GIMP developers that corrects the bounds checking logic in the PSP file parser to prevent the off-by-one write condition.

Recommended fix High confidence

GIMP 2.10.36

  1. Download GIMP version 2.10.36 or later from the official GIMP website (www.gimp.org)
  2. Verify the downloaded installer file integrity using checksums if provided
  3. Close any running instances of GIMP
  4. Install the new GIMP version, allowing it to replace the existing installation
  5. Launch GIMP and verify the version number shows 2.10.36 or later via Help > About GIMP

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

Fix this in Gimp Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,440
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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-2023-44444 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