ImageMagick has a Path Policy TOCTOU symlink race bypassGHSA-493f-jh8w-qhx3
MEDIUMGHSA-493f-jh8w-qhx3 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.3) CWE-59 vulnerability in Magick.NET-Q16-AnyCPU. A fix is available for Magick.NET-Q16-AnyCPU — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-493f-jh8w-qhx3.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
Magick.NET-Q16-AnyCPU.NETMagick.NET-Q16-HDRI-AnyCPU.NETMagick.NET-Q16-HDRI-OpenMP-arm64.NETMagick.NET-Q16-HDRI-OpenMP-x64.NETMagick.NET-Q16-HDRI-arm64.NETMagick.NET-Q16-HDRI-x64.NETMagick.NET-Q16-HDRI-x86.NETMagick.NET-Q16-OpenMP-arm64+11 moreReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects NuGet packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
ImageMagick 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, domain="path" authorization is checked before final file open/use. A symlink swap between check-time and use-time bypasses policy-denied read/write. This vulnerability is fixed in 7.1.2-16 and 6.9.13-41.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| .NETNuGet | Magick.NET-Q16-AnyCPU | all versions | 14.10.4dotnet add package Magick.NET-Q16-AnyCPU --version 14.10.4 |
| .NETNuGet | Magick.NET-Q16-HDRI-AnyCPU | all versions | 14.10.4dotnet add package Magick.NET-Q16-HDRI-AnyCPU --version 14.10.4 |
| .NETNuGet | Magick.NET-Q16-HDRI-OpenMP-arm64 | all versions | 14.10.4dotnet add package Magick.NET-Q16-HDRI-OpenMP-arm64 --version 14.10.4 |
| .NETNuGet | Magick.NET-Q16-HDRI-OpenMP-x64 | all versions | 14.10.4dotnet add package Magick.NET-Q16-HDRI-OpenMP-x64 --version 14.10.4 |
| .NETNuGet | Magick.NET-Q16-HDRI-arm64 | all versions | 14.10.4dotnet add package Magick.NET-Q16-HDRI-arm64 --version 14.10.4 |
| .NETNuGet | Magick.NET-Q16-HDRI-x64 | all versions | 14.10.4dotnet add package Magick.NET-Q16-HDRI-x64 --version 14.10.4 |
Affected Products
imagemagickimagemagickDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for Magick.NET-Q16-AnyCPU, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update Magick.NET-Q16-AnyCPU to 14.10.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-493f-jh8w-qhx3 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
This MODERATE impact vulnerability in ImageMagick allows a Time-of-Check to Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) symlink race. An attacker could exploit this to bypass path policy restrictions, potentially leading to unauthorized read or write access to files. This affects Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Community Projects that include…
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.Source: Red Hat security advisory for GHSA-493f-jh8w-qhx3 (CC BY 4.0)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-493f-jh8w-qhx3 in your dependencies?
Find it across NuGet, including transitive dependencies.