# 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.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 24 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 25 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-78475, GHSA-gqxg-r7gf-m7m7, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-78475

## 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 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-78475?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Gimp Gimp, Redhat Enterprise Linux.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-78475?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## 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

- [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-2026-78475 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-78475 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-2026-78475/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-78475/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-78475
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-78475
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-78475

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-78475/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.