CVE-2020-11538 json
Out-of-bounds read in Pillow
published 2020-06-25 6 y ago modified 2026-09-08 2 mo ago also BIT-pillow-2020-11538 , EUVD-2020-0133 , GHSA-43fq-w8qq-v88h , PYSEC-2020-80
- cvss
- 8.1
- version 3.1, NVD
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 2.4%
- EPSS 2.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 84%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
In libImaging/SgiRleDecode.c in Pillow through 7.0.0, a number of out-of-bounds reads exist in the parsing of SGI image files, a different issue than CVE-2020-5311.
Patch / fix
- pypi pillow 7.1.0
- bitnami pillow 7.0.1
- pillow Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 7.2.0-1
debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2020-11538
- pillow Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 5.1.0-1ubuntu0.3
- pillow Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 7.0.0-4ubuntu0.1
ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2020-11538
Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0
- python-pillow RHEL 8 5.1.1-12.el8_2
- python3-pillow RHEL 8 5.1.1-12.el8_2
- python-pillow RHEL 8.0 E4S 5.1.1-11.el8_0
- python3-pillow RHEL 8.0 E4S 5.1.1-11.el8_0
- python-pillow RHEL 8.1 EUS 5.1.1-11.el8_1
- python3-pillow RHEL 8.1 EUS 5.1.1-11.el8_1
red hat advisories RHSA-2020:3302RHSA-2020:3299RHSA-2020:3185
- kibana OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 9, OpenStack Cloud 9 4.6.3-4.3.2
- grafana OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 9, OpenStack Cloud 9 6.2.5-3.12.2
- ansible1 OpenStack Cloud 9 1.9.6-9.7.2
- ardana-mq OpenStack Cloud 9 9.0+git.1593618110.cbd1a37-3.16.2
- crowbar-core OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 9 6.0+git.1594619891.b75a61d0d-3.25.5
- rubygem-puma OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 9 2.16.0-4.9.1
- ardana-glance OpenStack Cloud 9 9.0+git.1593631708.9354a78-3.13.2
- ardana-manila OpenStack Cloud 9 9.0+git.1594158642.b5905e4-3.12.2
suse advisories SUSE-RU-2020:2161-1
- python-pillow Rocky Linux 8 5.1.1-12.el8_2
rocky linux advisories RLSA-2020:3185
- github.com/python-pillow/Pillow@2ef59fd commit
- github.com/python-pillow/Pillow#4538 pull request
- github.com/python-pillow/Pillow#4504 pull request
Vendor advisories
What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.
red hat product security vex CVE-2020-11538 updated cvss 8.1
python-pillow: out-of-bounds reads/writes in the parsing of SGI image files in expandrow/expandrow2
-
Red Hat Quay v3 quay/quay-rhel8 v3.4.0-51, quay/clair-rhel8 v3.4.0-25, quay/quay-builder-rhel8 v3.4.0-18, quay/quay-operator-bundle v3.4.0-89, quay/quay-operator-rhel8 v3.4.0-132, quay/quay-bridge-operator-bundle v3.4.0-3, +5 morefixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:0420
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 8) python-pillow 5.1.1-12.el8_2, python3-pillow 5.1.1-12.el8_2fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:3185
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream E4S (v. 8.0) python-pillow 5.1.1-11.el8_0, python3-pillow 5.1.1-11.el8_0fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:3302
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v. 8.1) python-pillow 5.1.1-11.el8_1, python3-pillow 5.1.1-11.el8_1fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:3299
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 python-imaging Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 python-imaging, python-imaging-tk, python-imaging-sane Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 python-pillow, python-pillow-qt, python-pillow-tk, python-pillow-sanenot affected: vulnerable code not present
Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf
Exploit prediction
2.42% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 84% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).
CVSS scores
| assigned by | version | score | vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub | 3.1 | 8.1 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVD | 3.1 | 8.1 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVD | 2.0 | 6.8 | AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P |
| OSV | 3.1 | 8.1 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
Affected packages
| ecosystem | package | affected | fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| pypi | pillow | <7.1.0 |
7.1.0 |
| bitnami | pillow | <7.0.1 |
7.0.1 |
Classification
- Weakness
-
- CWE-125 Out-of-bounds Read
References
-
github.com
/python-pillow/Pillow/pull/4538
web, issue-tracking, patch
-
github.com
/python-pillow/Pillow/pull/4504
web, issue-tracking, patch
-
github.com
/python-pillow/Pillow/commit/2ef59fdbaeb756bc512ab3f2ad15ac45665b303d
web
-
lists.fedoraproject.org
/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/HOKHNWV2VS5GESY7IBD237E7C6T3I427/
vendor-advisory, web
-
lists.fedoraproject.org
/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/BEBCPE4F2VHTIT6EZA2YZQZLPVDEBJGD/
vendor-advisory, web
-
usn.ubuntu.com
/4430-1/
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory, advisory, web
-
usn.ubuntu.com
/4430-2/
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory, advisory, web
-
pillow.readthedocs.io
/en/stable/releasenotes/index.html
web, release-notes, article
-
pillow.readthedocs.io
/en/stable/releasenotes/7.1.0.html
web, product
-
nvd.nist.gov
/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-11538
advisory, web
-
github.com
/advisories/GHSA-43fq-w8qq-v88h
advisory
-
github.com
/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/pillow/PYSEC-2020-80.yaml
web
-
github.com
/python-pillow/Pillow
package
-
github.com
/python-pillow/Pillow/blob/master/docs/releasenotes/7.1.0.rst#security
web
-
lists.fedoraproject.org
/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/BEBCPE4F2VHTIT6EZA2YZQZLPVDEBJGD
web
-
lists.fedoraproject.org
/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/HOKHNWV2VS5GESY7IBD237E7C6T3I427
web
-
snyk.io
/vuln/SNYK-PYTHON-PILLOW-574574
web
-
usn.ubuntu.com
/4430-1
web
-
usn.ubuntu.com
/4430-2
web
-
lists.fedoraproject.org
/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/HOKHNWV2VS5GESY7IBD237E7C6T3I427/
web
-
lists.fedoraproject.org
/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/BEBCPE4F2VHTIT6EZA2YZQZLPVDEBJGD/
web
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2020-11538
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-43fq-w8qq-v88h
- NVD CVE-2020-11538
- OSV BIT-pillow-2020-11538
- OSV PYSEC-2020-80
Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.