GitHub Advisoryadvisory · Packagist
GHSA-4x9g-vw65-vvf9 Grav: Unauthenticated denial of service via unbounded image derivative dimensions
HIGH
Official page ↗
- Aliases
- CVE-2026-53653
- Ecosystem
- Packagist
- Packages
- getgrav/grav
- Severity
- High
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- Weaknesses
- CWE-770
- Reviewed
- 2026-08-14
Affected packages
• Packagist getgrav/grav: >= 2.0.0-beta.1, < 2.0.0-rc.8 → fixed in 2.0.0-rc.8
• Packagist getgrav/grav: < 1.7.53 → fixed in 1.7.53
Description
Summary
An unauthenticated visitor exhausts server memory and CPU by requesting an image with oversized resize dimensions. One request drives a worker to several gigabytes of RAM and tens of seconds of CPU. A few concurrent requests take the host down.
Details
`Grav::fallbackUrl()` (system/src/Grav/Common/Grav.php:800-804) loops over every query parameter and, when the name matches `ImageMedium::$magic_actions`, calls that method on the medium with the comma-split value as arguments:
```php
foreach ($uri->query(null, true) as $action => $params) {
if (in_array($action, ImageMedium::$magic_actions, true)) {
call_user_func_array([&$medium, $action], explode(',', $params));
}
}
```
`forceResize` runs with `force=true`, so it sets the output size to the attacker's values with no clamp against the source or any ceiling. The `getgrav/image` GD adapter then calls `imagecreatetruecolor($w, $h)`. libgd allocates that buffer outside PHP's `emalloc`, so `memory_limit` does not cap it. Grav exposes no `system.images.max_width`/`max_height` setting.
PoC
Any page that serves an image works. With a 200x150 source image:
```
GET /home/test.png?forceResize=20000,20000
```
Measured on PHP 8.4.21 with `memory_limit=128M`:
• peak worker RSS 3,109 MB
• 21.9 s CPU
• HTTP 200, 1.6 MB response
`8000x8000` already needs ~244 MB. The cache key includes the dimensions, so varying them forces fresh work on every request.
Impact
Unauthenticated denial of service against any Grav site that serves images. No account, plugin, or non-default config required.
Fix
Clamp the request-derived dimensions before dispatch, behind a configurable cap. The image library is the wrong layer; bound the arguments at the request boundary.
```diff
--- a/system/src/Grav/Common/Grav.php
+++ b/system/src/Grav/Common/Grav.php
@@ public function fallbackUrl($path)
foreach ($uri->query(null, true) as $action => $params) {
if (in_array($action, ImageMedium::$magic_actions, true)) {
• call_user_func_array([&$medium, $action], explode(',', $params));
+ $args = explode(',', $params);
+ $max = (int) $config->get('system.images.max_dimension', 8000);
+ if ($max > 0
+ && in_array($action, ['resize', 'forceResize', 'cropResize', 'cropZoom', 'zoomCrop', 'crop'], true)) {
+ foreach ($args as $a) {
+ if (is_numeric($a) && (int) $a > $max) {
+ return false; // reject oversized derivative request
+ }
+ }
+ }
+ call_user_func_array([&$medium, $action], $args);
}
}
```
Document `system.images.max_dimension` (default 8000) so operators can tune it. A total-pixel ceiling (`width * height`) is a stricter alternative.
Related
Alias · CVE (1)
- CVE-2026-53653 Grav is a file-based Web platform. vulnerability
Weakness · CWE (1)
- CWE-770 Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling weakness
References
- https://github.com/getgrav/grav/security/advisories/GHSA-4x9g-vw65-vvf9 web
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53653 advisory
- https://github.com/getgrav/grav/commit/d9f9f0369a07ae5c96cde700c7949e1237b29cf6 web
- https://github.com/getgrav/grav/commit/f4c0f42eea755cedad6f626b342c88d4cba72174 web
- https://github.com/getgrav/grav package
- https://github.com/getgrav/grav/releases/tag/1.7.53 web
- https://github.com/getgrav/grav/releases/tag/2.0.0-rc.8 web