CVE-2016-3715: ImageMagick Arbitrary File Deletion Vulnerability

Reference page built from the source records below, each shown as its source publishes it. Dataset version ref-9d64265530d9, updated 2026-11-02T23:39:54.475Z.

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities

Name: ImageMagick Arbitrary File Deletion Vulnerability
Vendor: ImageMagick
Product: ImageMagick
Added to the catalog: 2021-11-03
Due date for US federal agencies: 2022-05-03
Weaknesses: CWE-284
Catalog version: 2026.10.30

ImageMagick contains an unspecified vulnerability that could allow users to delete files by using ImageMagick's 'ephemeral' pseudo protocol, which deletes files after reading.

Required action (CISA)

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Ransomware use: CISA does not mark known use of this vulnerability in ransomware campaigns.

Links in CISA's notes

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-3715

Read on 2026-11-02T23:39:54.475Z under licence cisa-kev-cc0@b0067899 from https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/feeds/known_exploited_vulnerabilities.json

NVD analysis

Status: Analyzed
Published: 2016-05-05T18:59:04.727
Last modified: 2026-06-17T00:46:14.567
Weaknesses: NVD-CWE-noinfo, CWE-552

The EPHEMERAL coder in ImageMagick before 6.9.3-10 and 7.x before 7.0.1-1 allows remote attackers to delete arbitrary files via a crafted image.

Metric	Score	Severity	Vector	Scored by
CVSS 3.1	5.5	MEDIUM	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N	[email protected] (Primary)
CVSS 3.1	5.5	MEDIUM	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N	134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 (Secondary)
CVSS 2.0	5.8	MEDIUM	AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:P	[email protected] (Primary)

References

http://git.imagemagick.org/repos/ImageMagick/blob/a01518e08c840577cabd7d3ff291a9ba735f7276/ChangeLog (Broken Link, Patch)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-05/msg00024.html (Third Party Advisory)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-05/msg00025.html (Third Party Advisory)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-05/msg00028.html (Third Party Advisory)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-05/msg00032.html (Third Party Advisory)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-05/msg00051.html (Third Party Advisory)
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-0726.html (Third Party Advisory)
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3580 (Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3746 (Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/05/03/18 (Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/bulletinjul2016-3090568.html (Third Party Advisory)
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinapr2016-2952096.html (Third Party Advisory)
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/538378/100/0/threaded (Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry)
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/89852 (Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry)
http://www.slackware.com/security/viewer.php?l=slackware-security&y=2016&m=slackware-security.440568 (Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2990-1 (Third Party Advisory)
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201611-21 (Third Party Advisory)
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/39767/ (Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry)
https://www.imagemagick.org/discourse-server/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=29588 (Exploit, Vendor Advisory)
https://www.imagemagick.org/script/changelog.php (Release Notes)
http://git.imagemagick.org/repos/ImageMagick/blob/a01518e08c840577cabd7d3ff291a9ba735f7276/ChangeLog (Broken Link, Patch)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-05/msg00024.html (Third Party Advisory)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-05/msg00025.html (Third Party Advisory)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-05/msg00028.html (Third Party Advisory)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-05/msg00032.html (Third Party Advisory)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-05/msg00051.html (Third Party Advisory)
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-0726.html (Third Party Advisory)
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3580 (Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3746 (Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/05/03/18 (Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/bulletinjul2016-3090568.html (Third Party Advisory)
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinapr2016-2952096.html (Third Party Advisory)
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/538378/100/0/threaded (Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry)
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/89852 (Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry)
http://www.slackware.com/security/viewer.php?l=slackware-security&y=2016&m=slackware-security.440568 (Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2990-1 (Third Party Advisory)
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201611-21 (Third Party Advisory)
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/39767/ (Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry)
https://www.imagemagick.org/discourse-server/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=29588 (Exploit, Vendor Advisory)
https://www.imagemagick.org/script/changelog.php (Release Notes)
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2016-3715 (US Government Resource)

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.

Read on 2026-11-02T23:41:35.381Z under licence nvd-api-terms-of-use@ff2a5288 from https://services.nvd.nist.gov/rest/json/cves/2.0?cveId=CVE-2016-3715

CVE record

Assigner: redhat
State: PUBLISHED
Published: 2016-05-05T18:00:00.000Z
Updated: 2025-10-21T23:55:52.910Z
Problem types: n/a

The EPHEMERAL coder in ImageMagick before 6.9.3-10 and 7.x before 7.0.1-1 allows remote attackers to delete arbitrary files via a crafted image.

References

http://git.imagemagick.org/repos/ImageMagick/blob/a01518e08c840577cabd7d3ff291a9ba735f7276/ChangeLog
openSUSE-SU-2016:1266
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinapr2016-2952096.html
https://www.imagemagick.org/discourse-server/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=29588
openSUSE-SU-2016:1326
USN-2990-1
openSUSE-SU-2016:1261
20160513 May 2016 - HipChat Server - Critical Security Advisory
39767
SUSE-SU-2016:1260
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/bulletinjul2016-3090568.html
[oss-security] 20160504 Re: ImageMagick Is On Fire -- CVE-2016-3714
DSA-3746
GLSA-201611-21
SUSE-SU-2016:1275
SSA:2016-132-01
https://www.imagemagick.org/script/changelog.php
DSA-3580
RHSA-2016:0726
89852

Read on 2026-11-03T00:33:44.120Z under licence cve-terms-of-use@81bfa2f3 from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/main/cves/2016/3xxx/CVE-2016-3715.json

Defensive techniques (MITRE D3FEND)

D3FEND maps these defensive techniques to the weakness (CWE) that NVD lists for this CVE, through the digital artifacts the weakness affects. D3FEND does not say they stop this vulnerability.

CWE-552: Files or Directories Accessible to External Parties

D3FEND lists no defensive technique for this weakness.

D3FEND ontology version 1.6.0.

Read on 2026-11-03T00:02:06.175Z under licence d3fend-terms-of-use@f98cbc7e from https://d3fend.mitre.org/api/weakness/cwe/CWE-552.json

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Sources and licences

CISA
Source: CISA Catalog of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities, version 2026.10.30, CC0 1.0. Use of this data does not imply endorsement by CISA or DHS.
CC0 1.0 Universal
National Vulnerability Database (NIST)
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
NVD API Terms of Use (NIST publications in the public domain, 17 U.S.C. 105)
CVE Program, The MITRE Corporation
Copyright © 1999-2026, The MITRE Corporation. CVE is a trademark and the CVE logo is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation. CVE Usage: MITRE hereby grants you a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable copyright license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE™). Any copy you make for such purposes is authorized provided that you reproduce MITRE's copyright designation and this license in any such copy.
CVE Program Terms of Use ("CVE Usage" licence)
MITRE D3FEND
MITRE D3FEND™ knowledge graph. © 2025 The MITRE Corporation.
"The MITRE Corporation (MITRE) hereby grants you a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use D3FEND for research, development, and commercial purposes. Any copy you make for such purposes is authorized provided that you reproduce MITRE's copyright designation and this license in any such copy." Terms: https://d3fend.mitre.org/tou/
MITRE D3FEND Terms of Use (site + knowledge graph); source repo MIT

Cite this page

Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "CVE-2016-3715: ImageMagick Arbitrary File Deletion Vulnerability",
entity page, dataset version ref-9d64265530d9, updated 2026-11-02T23:39:54.475Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/cve/CVE-2016-3715 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: CISA Catalog of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities, version 2026.10.30.
Underlying source: National Vulnerability Database (NIST), CVE API 2.0, record last modified 2026-06-17T00:46:14.567.
Underlying source: CVE List (CVE Program, The MITRE Corporation), record updated 2025-10-21T23:55:52.910Z.
Underlying source: MITRE D3FEND, ontology version 1.6.0.

Pages change. The dataset version identifies the data, but no archive of old versions is kept, so this citation cannot be replayed later.

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