Is CVE-2026-2044 exploited in the wild?

No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-2044 being exploited in the wild.

How severe is CVE-2026-2044?

High severity, with a CVSS score of 8.8, published 20 February 2026.

Which products and versions are affected?

GNOME GIMP 2.8.22, 3.0.4; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, 9.

Is there a fix for CVE-2026-2044?

A patch was published on 2025-12-05: Fix merged into GNOME GIMP master branch Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

How is CVE-2026-2044 attacked?

It is attacked over the network or with local access, in a network appliance.

Am I affected by CVE-2026-2044?

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.

CVE-2026-2044: GIMP uninitialized memory remote code execution in PGM parsing

CVE-2026-2044 · Severity: high · CVSS 8.8 · Published 2026-02-20

GIMP is a widely used open-source image editor for professional photo retouching and image composition. A security vulnerability has been identified in how the application handles PGM image files, which could allow an attacker to take control of a user's computer. To exploit this, an attacker would need to trick a user into opening a specially crafted malicious image file or visiting a compromised website.

Technologies: Gimp. Vendors: Gimp.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2026-2044 exploited in the wild?: No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-2044 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2026-2044?: High severity, with a CVSS score of 8.8, published 20 February 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?: GNOME GIMP 2.8.22, 3.0.4; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, 9.
Is there a fix for CVE-2026-2044?: A patch was published on 2025-12-05: Fix merged into GNOME GIMP master branch Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is CVE-2026-2044 attacked?: It is attacked over the network or with local access, in a network appliance.
Am I affected by CVE-2026-2044?: 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

A vulnerability (CWE-908) exists in GIMP's PGM (Portable Graymap) file parsing logic due to the use of uninitialized memory. Specifically, the application used 'g_malloc' instead of 'g_malloc0' when allocating memory for file parsing, leading to the use of unpredictable data from previous allocations. An attacker can craft a malicious PGM file that, when opened by a user, triggers this flaw to achieve remote code execution in the context of the GIMP process. The vulnerability was addressed by switching to zero-initialized memory allocation. Red Hat has released updates for RHEL 8 and 9 to mitigate this issue.

Affected products

GNOME GIMP 2.8.22, 3.0.4
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, 9

Timeline

2025-11-11: disclosed: Vulnerability reported to vendor via ZDI
2025-12-05: patched: Fix merged into GNOME GIMP master branch
2026-02-19: advisory: ZDI published advisory ZDI-26-118
2026-03-10: patched: Red Hat released security updates for RHEL 9

References

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