CVE-2026-13708 Denial of service in Imager::File::JPEG
Attackers can cause memory exhaustion and denial of service in Perl applications by supplying JPEG files with repeated APP13 markers.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-13708?
CVE-2026-13708 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in TONYC Imager::File::JPEG, published on 6 Jul 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Imager::File::JPEG versions before 1.003 for Perl leak heap memory when reading a JPEG with repeated APP13 markers in i_readjpeg_wiol.
i_readjpeg_wiol walks the marker list libjpeg returns and, for each APP13 marker, allocates a new buffer with *iptc_itext = mymalloc(...) and overwrites the previous pointer without freeing it. Only the final payload is later turned into a Perl scalar and freed, so a JPEG with N such markers leaks the first N-1 payloads on every read.
In a long-lived process, such as an upload or thumbnailing service, repeated reads accumulate these leaks and exhaust available memory, a denial of service.
The same handler ships bundled in the Imager distribution, where versions before 1.032 are affected and the fix ships in 1.032.
Weakness: CWE-401
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-13708?
How do I fix CVE-2026-13708?
Upgrade to a fixed version.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-13708 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-13708 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2026-13708, GHSA-cx44-fgg3-fcp4, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-13708.