Quick answers
- Is CVE-2026-18309 exploited in the wild?
- No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-18309 being exploited in the wild.
- How severe is CVE-2026-18309?
- High severity, with a CVSS score of 7.8, published 20 August 2026.
- Which products and versions are affected?
- GIMP GIMP.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2026-18309?
- A patch was published on 2026-07-29: Fix released by GIMP Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
- How is CVE-2026-18309 attacked?
- It is attacked with local access, in a software library.
- Am I affected by CVE-2026-18309?
- Check whether you run Gimp. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.
Technical details
The vulnerability is an integer overflow in GIMP's APNG (Animated PNG) file parser. The root cause is insufficient validation of user-supplied data when parsing APNG headers, which can trigger an integer overflow during buffer allocation. The attack requires user interaction—a target must be tricked into opening a malicious APNG file via a web page or direct file access. A successful exploit grants arbitrary code execution in the current user's security context. GIMP has released a patch, with details available in commit c760c8309d18bdf5259f1e04ced0779462c7c636.
Affected products
- GIMP GIMP
Timeline
- 2026-04-17: disclosed: Vulnerability reported to vendor
- 2026-07-29: patched: Fix released by GIMP
- 2026-07-29: advisory: Public advisory released (ZDI-26-462 / CVE-2026-18309)