CVE-2021-28675Public exploit

Denial of service via unchecked PSD layer count

Published Jun 2, 2021 · Updated Aug 3, 2024

Denial of service in Pillow before 8.2.0 allows attackers to hang image-processing applications by supplying a crafted PSD file. PSDImagePlugin.PsdImageFile trusts the declared layer count without checking that the layer-data block has the minimum bytes needed for those layers. An application must pass attacker-controlled PSD content to Image.open, where the parser can stall before Image.load and interrupt the consuming process.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.96%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Denial of service in Pillow before 8.2.0 allows attackers to hang image-processing applications by supplying a crafted PSD file. PSDImagePlugin.PsdImageFile trusts the declared layer count without checking that the layer-data block has the minimum bytes needed for those layers. An application must pass attacker-controlled PSD content to Image.open, where the parser can stall before Image.load and interrupt the consuming process.

The record

CVE
CVE-2021-28675
Published
Jun 2, 2021
Updated
Aug 3, 2024
Vendor
Unknown vendor
Product
Unknown product
Classifications
CWE-233, CWE-252, T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jun 2, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 3, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Affected buildAffected product and version details are unavailable.

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.

Published CVSS scores

5.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
7.1GitHub Advisory DatabaseCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-233Improper Handling of Parameters
CWE-252Unchecked Return Value
T1499.004Endpoint Denial of Service: Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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