CVE-2020-11538

HIGHNVD 8.18.1—

8.1

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.

CVSS v3: 8.1
EG Score: 8.1(medium)
EPSS: 50.2%
KEV: Not listed

Published

June 25, 2020

Last Modified

November 21, 2024

References (16)

cve@mitrehttps://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/pull/4504
cve@mitrehttps://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/pull/4538
cve@mitrehttps://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/BEBCPE4F2VHTIT6EZA2YZQZLPVDEBJGD/
cve@mitrehttps://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/HOKHNWV2VS5GESY7IBD237E7C6T3I427/
cve@mitrehttps://pillow.readthedocs.io/en/stable/releasenotes/7.1.0.html
cve@mitrehttps://pillow.readthedocs.io/en/stable/releasenotes/index.html
cve@mitrehttps://usn.ubuntu.com/4430-1/
cve@mitrehttps://usn.ubuntu.com/4430-2/
af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/pull/4504
af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/pull/4538
af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/BEBCPE4F2VHTIT6EZA2YZQZLPVDEBJGD/
af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/HOKHNWV2VS5GESY7IBD237E7C6T3I427/
af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://pillow.readthedocs.io/en/stable/releasenotes/7.1.0.html
af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://pillow.readthedocs.io/en/stable/releasenotes/index.html
af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://usn.ubuntu.com/4430-1/

Patch Availability(6)

Vendor / Ecosystem	Fixed in / Patch	Released	Source
ubuntu	python3-pil.imagetk (7.0.0-4ubuntu0.1) @ focal	2026-05-27	ubuntu
ubuntu	python3-pil.imagetk (5.1.0-1ubuntu0.3) @ bionic	2026-05-27	ubuntu
redhat	quay/quay-rhel8:v3.4.0-51	2021-02-04	redhat
redhat	python-pillow-0:5.1.1-11.el8_0	2020-08-04	redhat
redhat	python-pillow-0:5.1.1-11.el8_1	2020-08-04	redhat
redhat	python-pillow-0:5.1.1-12.el8_2	2020-07-28	redhat

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Affected Packages

(1 across 1 ecosystem)

PyPI(1)

Package	Vulnerable range	Fixed in	Dependents
pillow	1.0 ... 7.0.0 (70 versions)	7.1.0	—

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

CWE-125Out-of-bounds Read

All Vendor Advisories

(6)

Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 7× in last 7d / 7× in last 30d)

Every time one of our enrichment pipelines (NVD, MITRE cvelistV5, EPSS, CISA KEV, GHSA, OSV, vendor advisories) ran against this CVE. Most recent first.

2026-05-27 13:39 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-27 01:58 UTCEG score recompute
2026-05-27 01:58 UTCVendor advisory
2026-05-26 13:42 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-26 13:42 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-26 07:17 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-26 07:17 UTCepss_batch

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2020-11538?

CVE-2020-11538 is a high vulnerability published on June 25, 2020. 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.

When was CVE-2020-11538 disclosed?

CVE-2020-11538 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on June 25, 2020, with the most recent update on November 21, 2024. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.

Is CVE-2020-11538 actively exploited?

CVE-2020-11538 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 50.2% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.

What is the CVSS score of CVE-2020-11538?

CVE-2020-11538 has a CVSS v3 base score of 8.1 (NVD).

How do I remediate CVE-2020-11538?

Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2020-11538, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2020-11538

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