# CVE-2026-96545: Gimp: gimp: out-of-bounds heap read in the 4bpp tim image loader

> An out-of-bounds heap read in GIMP's TIM image loader allows attackers to read adjacent heap memory or crash the application via a crafted image.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.4 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:L`)
- **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:** 23 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 23 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-96545, GHSA-4528-hvwj-6gx3, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-96545

## What is CVE-2026-96545?

CVE-2026-96545 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, published on 23 Sep 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

An out-of-bounds heap read flaw was found in GIMP's TIM image loader. When a user opens a crafted 4bpp TIM image that causes promotion to an RGBA layer, the file-tim plug-in allocates an undersized row buffer but processes it using the larger RGBA row size. This can copy adjacent heap contents into the decoded image and may crash the plug-in.

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-96545?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-96545?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-96545 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-96545 exists.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-96545 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-96545 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, published on 23 Sep 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: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-96545 exists.

Affected product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10. 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-2026-96545/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-96545/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-96545
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-96545
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-96545

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-96545/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.