ImageMagick, a widely used image manipulation library, contains a memory leak in the ReadSTEGANOImage function for versions prior to 7.1.2‑15 and 6.9.13‑40. When a caller reaches one of three early‑return paths, the watermark image object is not freed, leaking roughly 13.5 KB per invocation. Repeated processing of untrusted images can exhaust system memory and cause the image‑processing application or host to become unresponsive, resulting in a denial‑of‑service scenario. The vulnerability is a classic example of improper resource management (CWE‑401) and an unreleased resource destruction issue (CWE‑772).

The vulnerable products are ImageMagick versions preceding 7.1.2‑15 and 6.9.13‑40. Systems running ImageMagick 7.1.2‑15 or newer, and 6.9.13‑40 or newer, contain the patch that frees the watermark image object properly. Any environment that employs older ImageMagick builds, such as web servers, content‑generation services, or local utilities that accept user‑supplied images, is susceptible.

The CVSS vector assigns a score of 5.3, indicating a moderate severity. The EPSS score is below 1 %, suggesting that attacks are currently unlikely, and the vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog. Nevertheless, exploiting the leak requires only feeding crafted images to a running ImageMagick instance. If an application processes external images without bounds, an attacker can trigger the early‑return paths repeatedly, gradually consuming memory until a service crash or restart occurs. The overall risk is moderate, especially for high‑availability or high‑traffic image services.