# CVE-2026-40916: Gimp: gimp: denial of service due to stack buffer overflow in tim image loader

> A local attacker can cause a denial of service in GIMP by opening a specially crafted TIM image file that triggers a stack buffer overflow.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 15 Apr 2026
- **Updated:** 2 Jul 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-40916, GHSA-xcqw-9mv2-wqj3, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-40916

## What is CVE-2026-40916?

CVE-2026-40916 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Gimp Gimp, published on 15 Apr 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

A flaw was found in GIMP. A stack buffer overflow vulnerability in the TIM image loader's 4BPP decoding path allows a local user to cause a Denial of Service (DoS). By opening a specially crafted TIM image file, the application crashes due to an unconditional overflow when writing to a variable-length array.

Weakness: CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-40916?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Gimp Gimp, Redhat Enterprise Linux.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-40916?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-40916 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-40916 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Gimp Gimp

- [CVE-2010-4541](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-4541/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2009-3909](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-3909/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2009-1570](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-1570/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2009-0723](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-0723/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2009-0733](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-0733/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-40916 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-40916 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Gimp Gimp, published on 15 Apr 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-40916 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Gimp Gimp. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-40916/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-40916/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-40916
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-40916
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-40916

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-40916/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.