CVE-2016-3715: ImageMagick Arbitrary File Deletion Vulnerability

Is it exploited?

Yes. CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 3 Nov 2021, 2,008 days after the CVE record was published.

How likely is exploitation in the next 30 days?

75.3%

EPSS score, percentile 99.5 of all scored records

How severe?

5.5 Medium

CVSS v3.1 base score, from CISA's enrichment of the record

What should I do?

Required action (CISA), due 3 May 2022: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Advisories and patches (11)

Which versions are affected?

Not stated. The CVE record gives vendor and product as “n/a” and the version as “unspecified”.

Source: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, 2026.10.28, as of 28 Oct 2026; FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), v2026.06.15, as of 28 Oct 2026; CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of 28 Oct 2026. About the data.

What to do

CISA due date for this action: 3 May 2022.

Advisories and patches

• openSUSE-SU-2016:1266 (Vendor advisory)
• openSUSE-SU-2016:1326 (Vendor advisory)
• USN-2990-1 (Vendor advisory)
• openSUSE-SU-2016:1261 (Vendor advisory)
• SUSE-SU-2016:1260 (Vendor advisory)
• DSA-3746 (Vendor advisory)
• GLSA-201611-21 (Vendor advisory)
• SUSE-SU-2016:1275 (Vendor advisory)
• SSA:2016-132-01 (Vendor advisory)
• DSA-3580 (Vendor advisory)
• RHSA-2016:0726 (Vendor advisory)

Linked from CISA's catalog entry

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

Affected products and versions

The CVE record does not name affected products or versions: vendor and product are “n/a” and the version is “unspecified”.

Source: CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of 28 Oct 2026. About the data.

About this vulnerability

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

Summary: CISA's KEV catalog, as of 28 Oct 2026.

• CISA added CVE-2016-3715 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 3 Nov 2021.
• CISA's ransomware flag for this entry is "Unknown": no evidence of ransomware use in the catalog, which is not proof of none.
• The due date CISA sets for the required action is 3 May 2022.
• The CVE record was published on 5 May 2016, 2,008 days before it was added to KEV.
• The CVE record carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (Medium), taken from CISA's enrichment of the record.
• FIRST's EPSS model puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 75.3% (percentile 99.5), as of 28 Oct 2026.
• CISA's SSVC assessment in the CVE record: exploitation active, automatable no, technical impact partial.

Source: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, 2026.10.28, as of 28 Oct 2026; CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of 28 Oct 2026; FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), v2026.06.15, as of 28 Oct 2026. About the data.

Description

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.

Source: CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of 28 Oct 2026. About the data.

Weakness

• CWE-552: Files or Directories Accessible to External Parties
• CWE-284

CWE and CAPEC are maintained by MITRE; the entries are those named in the CVE record and the KEV entry.

Timeline

References

• 39767 (Exploit)

8 more in the CVE record.

More exploited ImageMagick vulnerabilities

• CVE-2016-3714: ImageMagick Improper Input Validation Vulnerability (added 9 Sep 2024)
• CVE-2016-3718: ImageMagick Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) Vulnerability (added 3 Nov 2021)