CVE-2026-28686
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 · uneditedImageMagick is free and open-source software used for editing and manipulating digital images. Prior to versions 7.1.2-16 and 6.9.13-41, A heap-buffer-overflow vulnerability exists in the PCL encode due to an undersized output buffer allocation. This vulnerability is fixed in 7.1.2-16 and 6.9.13-41.
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 confidenceA heap-buffer-overflow vulnerability exists in ImageMagick's PCL encoder due to an undersized output buffer allocation. This memory corruption flaw could allow an attacker to cause a denial of service or potentially achieve arbitrary code execution through specially crafted image files processed by the PCL encoder.
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< 6.9.13-41>= 7.0.0-0, < 7.1.2-16CVSS 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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed ImageMagick versionRun 'convert --version' (ImageMagick 6) or 'magick --version' (ImageMagick 7) to retrieve the version numberAffected if The version shown is less than 6.9.13-41, or is 7.0.0-0 through 7.1.2-15 (versions before 7.1.2-16)
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Confirm PCL encoder is availableRun 'convert -list coder' or 'magick -list coder' and look for 'PCL' in the list of available codersAffected if PCL appears in the coder list, indicating the PCL encoder is compiled and available
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Determine if PCL encoding is in useInspect any image processing pipelines or custom coders that may invoke PCL encoding; check logs or application code for 'PCL' or 'pcl' encoder usageAffected if The PCL encoder is actively used to process image files in the environment
You are affected if ImageMagick version is below 6.9.13-41 (for 6.x) or between 7.0.0-0 and 7.1.2-15 (for 7.x), AND the PCL encoder is available and being used to process image files.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 · scoped6.9.13-417.1.2-16
Upgrade ImageMagick to version 7.1.2-16 or 6.9.13-41 or later to patch the heap-buffer-overflow in the PCL encoder. Verify PCL encoding functionality after the update.
ImageMagick 6.9.13-41 (for 6.x line) or 7.1.2-16 (for 7.x line)
- Check current ImageMagick version using 'convert -version' or 'magick -version'
- For RHEL/CentOS/Fedora: run 'sudo dnf update ImageMagick' or 'sudo yum update ImageMagick'
- For Debian/Ubuntu: run 'sudo apt update && sudo apt install imagemagick'
- Verify the installed version matches 6.9.13-41 (for version 6.x) or 7.1.2-16 (for version 7.x)
- If using a package manager that doesn't have the fixed version, download source from ImageMagick official releases (imagemagick.org) and compile
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-28686 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-28686 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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