CVE-2026-78475 Gimp: unbounded stack vla and 21-byte stack over-read in pix (esm) loader
A crafted PIX image triggers stack exhaustion and over-read in GIMP, allowing denial of service and limited memory disclosure.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-78475?
CVE-2026-78475 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Gimp Gimp, published on 24 Aug 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 the file-pix (ESM) plugin in GIMP. When processing a specially crafted PIX image file, the plugin allocates a Variable-Length Array (VLA) on the stack without proper bounds checking, causing an unbounded stack allocation followed by a 21-byte stack over-read. This can result in a denial of service due to stack exhaustion and a limited information disclosure of stack memory contents into an intermediate file.
Weakness: CWE-125
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-78475?
It affects 2 products.
Products include Gimp Gimp, Redhat Enterprise Linux.
How do I fix CVE-2026-78475?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2026-78475 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-78475 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Gimp Gimp
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2026-78475, GHSA-gqxg-r7gf-m7m7, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-78475.