CriticalCVE-2026-96639

    Pillow multi-frame loaders can reuse stale native image storage after mode transitions (CVE-2026-96639)

    Published Last modified Sources: CVE.org, OSV, Hersteller

    What is affected, what to do

    Pillow is a Python imaging library. From 11.0.0 until 13.0.0, multi-frame loaders can retain an ImagingCore allocation created for a narrow frame mode while a later frame of the same dimensions changes the logical mode and decoder tiles to wider RGB or CMYK data.

    Update pillow to version 13.0.0, Pillow to version 13.0.0.

    Affected
    • Python-pillow Pillow gte 11.0.0, < 13.0.0..*

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    9.8

    Priority

    XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: Vendor (CNA), CVSS v3

    9.8

    CVSS v3

    Severity Critical on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: CVE.org, OSV, Hersteller

    0.7 %

    EPSS score

    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 51.8

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    Critical
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    100.47 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

    Read in glossary
    no public PoC known
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

    Read in glossary
    9.8 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    9.8
    EPSS score

    The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.

    Read in glossary
    0.7 %
    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
    EPSS percentile

    The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.

    Read in glossary
    51.8
    High — this CVE ranks above the median of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 36%).
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    —
    Published
    CWE

    CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect.

    Read in glossary
    CWE-125, CWE-787

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    High technical severity: assess and remediate the vulnerability in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2 and document the decision.
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    Pillow is a Python imaging library. From 11.0.0 until 13.0.0, multi-frame loaders can retain an ImagingCore allocation created for a narrow frame mode while a later frame of the same dimensions changes the logical mode and decoder tiles to wider RGB or CMYK data. ImageFile.load_prepare() reuses the stale native storage because _im is non-null without verifying that its mode and size still match. Crafted PSD, MPO, DCX, or MIC frame transitions can then write wider pixels into the narrow allocation, causing native out-of-bounds writes and crashes. The MPO path can also cause a native over-read and, in demonstrated runtime-specific profiles, command execution. This issue is fixed in version 13.0.0.

    Source: NVD (NIST), OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities), GitHub Security Advisories, cvelistv5

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    Affected versionsFixed in
    python-pillowPillow
    • ≥ 11.0.0, < 13.0.0
    • —
    pythonpillow
    • 11.0.0 – < 13.0.0
    • 13.0.0
    pipPillow
    • >= 11.0.0, < 13.0.0
    • 13.0.0
    pypipillow
    • 11.1.0
    • 11.2.1
    • 12.2.0
    • 11.0.0
    • 12.3.0
    • 12.1.0
    • 12.0.0
    • 11.3.0
    • 12.1.1
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • 13.0.0
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —

    Vendors and products

    Weakness classes (CWE)

    • CWE-125Out-of-bounds Read

      Base

      The product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-125

    • CWE-787Out-of-bounds Write

      Base

      The product writes data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-787

    References & sources

    • github.compython-pillow/Pillow/security/advisories/GHSA-v9pv-5gc8-w2m6x_refsource_CONFIRM, web, Vendor advisory
    • github.compython-pillow/Pillow/pull/10105x_refsource_MISC, web, Issue tracking
    • github.compython-pillow/Pillow/commit/78d97d994579aef81aafe123773d525f40f…x_refsource_MISC, web, Patch
    • github.compython-pillow/Pillow/releases/tag/13.0.0x_refsource_MISC, web, Release notes
    • NVD (NIST)vuln/detail/CVE-2026-96639advisory
    • github.compython-pillow/Pillowpackage

    Changes to this CVE

    Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).

    1. Initial analysis by NVDNVD

      Newly listed as affected:
      Show 5 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Product configurationadded
      —
      OR *cpe:2.3:a:python:pillow:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 11.0.0 up to (excluding) 13.0.0
      Reference typeadded
      —
      GitHub, Inc.: https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/commit/78d97d994579aef81aafe123773d525f40f2522a Types: Patch
      Reference typeadded
      —
      GitHub, Inc.: https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/pull/10105 Types: Issue Tracking
      Reference typeadded
      —
      GitHub, Inc.: https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/releases/tag/13.0.0 Types: Release Notes
      Reference typeadded
      —
      GitHub, Inc.: https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/security/advisories/GHSA-v9pv-5gc8-w2m6 Types: Vendor Advisory

      Source identifier: nvd@nist.gov

    2. ReceivedGitHub

      CVSS V3.1: AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

      Weakness type: CWE-125, CWE-787

      Description added or changed

      Show 9 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Descriptionadded
      —
      Pillow is a Python imaging library. From 11.0.0 until 13.0.0, multi-frame loaders can retain an ImagingCore allocation created for a narrow frame mode while a later frame of the same dimensions changes the logical mode and decoder tiles to wider RGB or CMYK data. ImageFile.load_prepare() reuses the stale native storage because _im is non-null without verifying that its mode and size still match. Crafted PSD, MPO, DCX, or MIC frame transitions can then write wider pixels into the narrow allocation, causing native out-of-bounds writes and crashes. The MPO path can also cause a native over-read and, in demonstrated runtime-specific profiles, command execution. This issue is fixed in version 13.0.0.
      CVSSadded
      —
      AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
      Weakness type (CWE)added
      —
      CWE-125
      Weakness type (CWE)added
      —
      CWE-787
      Affected versions (publisher)added
      —
      New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/96xxx/CVE-2026-96639.json">CVE-2026-96639</a>
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/commit/78d97d994579aef81aafe123773d525f40f2522a
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/pull/10105
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/releases/tag/13.0.0
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/security/advisories/GHSA-v9pv-5gc8-w2m6

      Source identifier: security-advisories@github.com

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