A flaw in GIMP's file-iff loader reads heap memory beyond the intended bounds when handling specially crafted IFF/ILBM images. The plugin fails to validate HAM row size and mishandles cases where the number of color planes is zero, which allows a row size mismatch to bypass memory bounds checking. This can cause the application to crash, resulting in a denial‑of‑service condition, or disclose fragments of heap memory, providing limited information about the program's state.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux distributions 6, 7, 8, and 9 are affected because the GIMP package is bundled with these operating systems. All supported RHEL releases that include the vulnerable GIMP version fall under the scope of this vulnerability; the exact patch level is not specified in the advisory, so administrators should verify against the latest RHEL repository packages for each distribution.

The CVSS score of 6.1 indicates moderate to high severity. The EPSS score is not available, and the vulnerability is not listed in CISA's KEV catalog, suggesting that widespread exploitation is unlikely at present. The attack path requires an attacker to supply a malicious IFF/ILBM file and convince or trick a user into opening it with GIMP; thus the vector is local/file-based, and privilege escalation is not addressed. Once the vulnerable code runs, exhaust or read memory leaks could lead to a crash or leak of sensitive heap data. The reuse of a memory-bound read flaw (CWE‑125) means that proper input validation would fully mitigate the issue.