CVE-2026-96643
Pillow: PNG eXIf chunk makes EXIF parsing run in quadratic time
- State
- Published
- Severity
- 7.1 High
- Published
- Oct 21, 2026
- Updated
- Oct 23, 2026
- Reserved
- Sep 23, 2026
Description
Pillow is a Python imaging library. From 11.0.0 until 13.0.0, Exif.load() in src/PIL/Image.py repeatedly slices the remaining EXIF data while it begins with the six-byte Exif header. src/PIL/PngImagePlugin.py accepts an uncapped PNG eXIf chunk, so a file filled with repeated headers causes a new shrinking copy on every iteration and quadratic CPU work. The condition is reachable through Image.getexif(), Image._getexif(), and ImageOps.exif_transpose(), including common photo-upload rotation workflows. This issue is fixed in version 13.0.0.
Scores
| CVSS | Score | Vector | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0 | 7.1 High | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N | GitHub_M |
Weaknesses
- CWE-407 Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity
Affected Products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
Pillowpython-pillow |
|
References
Every record here comes from the CVE Program’s CVE List. © 1999–2026 The MITRE Corporation. CVE is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation. The records are reproduced under the CVE Program terms of use.