CVE Intelligence
Medium Denial of service

CVE-2026-112901 — Pillow: ReDoS in XbmImagePlugin: 512-byte file stalls Image.open() for minutes

Pillow is a Python imaging library. Prior to 13.0.0, Pillow's XBM header parser is vulnerable to regular-expression denial of service. In XbmImageFile._open, when an application calls Image.open() on a small crafted XBM file, XbmImagePlugin applies a backtracking expression to the attacker-controlled header before image dimensions are accepted, stalling a worker for minutes and denying service. This issue is fixed in version 13.0.0.

Published Oct 19, 2026 · Updated Oct 19, 2026 · Sources: NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP · CNA: GitHub_M

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

No exploitation signal in the sources consulted so far.
How the score was calculated
  • Technical severity (medium)+3

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation
Not confirmed
Not in CISA KEV — an absence of record, not proof it is unexploited.
EPSS FIRST
—
No EPSS score.
Affects
Python-pillow
Pillow
CVSS base
6.9
Medium · 2 source(s)

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

No fix documented by the sources we poll. That does not mean none exists: check the vendor advisory.

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

  1. Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Python-pillow Pillow).
  2. The attack is network-based and needs no privileges: restrict exposure (ACLs, VPN, WAF) until patched.
  3. No fix documented in the sources: reduce exposure and monitor the vendor advisory.
  4. Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (denial of service), errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

VendorProductVersionsStatusSource
Python-pillow Pillow version < 13.0.0 Vulnerable CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Attack requirements
None
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
X
Confidentiality (vulnerable system)
None
Integrity (vulnerable system)
None
Availability (vulnerable system)
Low
Confidentiality (subsequent)
None
Integrity (subsequent)
None
Availability (subsequent)
None

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

ScoreVersionSeverityExpl.ImpactScored by
6.9 CVSS 4.0 Medium — — security-advisories@github.com via NIST National Vulnerability Database
6.9 CVSS 4.0 Medium — — GitHub_M via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X (score shown at the top: security-advisories@github.com)

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-1333 · Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity (ReDoS)

Other CVEs with this weakness →

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

  • Prioritize edge telemetry for the network-reachable component (proxy, WAF, IDS/IPS).
  • Track CPU/memory spikes and availability drops correlated with request patterns.
web/proxy/WAF logsnetwork IDS/IPSresource metrics

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

  • 2026
  • Affected products added · python-pillow/pillow
    Oct 19, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • Record published
    Oct 19, 2026
  • CVSS changed · 6.9
    Oct 19, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Source status changed · → Received
    Oct 19, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Record created in this database
    Oct 19, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • CVE published
    Oct 19, 2026 · GitHub_M

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

  • 1× Official description updated · Oct 19, 2026 – Oct 19, 2026

References

3 on the record

Elsewhere on this site

Python-pillow
every CVE for this vendor
Denial of service
same class
CWE-1333
other pages naming this weakness

Related CVEs (same products)

  • CVE-2026-112900 Pillow: Argument Injection in Ghostscript call, potentially leading into RCE 4h
  • CVE-2026-112898 Pillow: Image.quantize() with empty palette leaks uninitialized stack memory 4h
  • CVE-2026-112894 Pillow: Quadratic-time DoS in PDF save_all (PdfParser.next_object_id) 4h
  • CVE-2026-112895 Pillow: Unbounded recursion parsing a PDF page tree or trailer chain (incomplete fix for CVE-2026-42310) 4h
  • CVE-2026-112893 Pillow: Invalid free in FreeType glyph rendering when a stroker is active 4h
  • CVE-2026-112892 Pillow: MSP RLE decoder expands a tiny file into unbounded memory 4h

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

  • No FIRST EPSS score.
  • No fixed version, patch or mitigation documented.
  • No CISA SSVC assessment.
  • No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
  • No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
  • No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2026-112901 is "Pillow: ReDoS in XbmImagePlugin: 512-byte file stalls Image.open() for minutes", rated Medium. It affects Pillow (Python-pillow); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 6.9 describes technical severity. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

Comments

Moderated technical discussion. Read the community guidelines.

No comments yet.

Sign in or create an account to comment and suggest corrections.