CVE-2025-55298: 
C# vulnerability analysis and mitigation

ImageMagick, a free and open-source software used for editing and manipulating digital images, disclosed a format string bug vulnerability (CVE-2025-55298) in the InterpretImageFilename function. The vulnerability was discovered on August 26, 2025, affecting versions prior to 6.9.13-28 and 7.1.2-2, where user input is directly passed to FormatLocaleString without proper sanitization (GitHub Advisory).

The vulnerability exists in the InterpretImageFilename function where format string specifiers in filenames are directly passed to FormatLocaleString without validation. This improper handling allows attackers to manipulate format strings, potentially leading to memory corruption. The vulnerability has received a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 HIGH (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) from NVD, while GitHub assessed it with a score of 7.5 HIGH (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) (NVD).

The vulnerability enables attackers to achieve complete system compromise through arbitrary memory read/write operations and remote code execution. Successful exploitation can lead to privilege escalation, data exfiltration, and lateral movement within compromised networks. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous in web applications processing user-uploaded images and automated image processing systems (GitHub Advisory).

The vulnerability has been patched in ImageMagick versions 6.9.13-28 and 7.1.2-2. Users can mitigate the risk by explicitly disabling format string parsing using the 'filename:literal' directive either in wrappers or from the command line with '-define filename:literal=true'. Additionally, many modern toolchains and operating systems provide built-in mitigations against format string exploits through features like -Wformat-security, FORTIFYSOURCE, and ASLR/stack canaries (GitHub Advisory, Magick.NET Release).