FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
java version "1.6.0_03"

ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
ImageIO.read() throws an IndexOutOfBoundsException on a bad GIF file, when another result seems expected. See below for details.

STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
Compile and run the following program, passing the location of this GIF file:

http://www.latavolacalda.co.uk/_blnk.gif

I will try to attach it to the test case.


EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
The image appears to indeed be a bad GIF. It reports a block size of 59 bytes, but the image file is only 56 bytes in length. It seems like the code should be prepared for this situation.

Per ImageIO.read()'s contract, I would expect either a null return value since it could not be decoded by any reader, or at best, an IOException. I think a null is preferable but am not entirely sure on that.
ACTUAL -
Exception indicated below is thrown. Similar errors occur in different parts of the code if, for example, the ImageIO cache is used, or disabled. The

ERROR MESSAGES/STACK TRACES THAT OCCUR :
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException
at java.io.RandomAccessFile.readBytes(Native Method)
at java.io.RandomAccessFile.read(RandomAccessFile.java:322)
at javax.imageio.stream.FileImageInputStream.read(FileImageInputStream.java:101)
at com.sun.imageio.plugins.gif.GIFImageReader.getCode(GIFImageReader.java:306)
at com.sun.imageio.plugins.gif.GIFImageReader.read(GIFImageReader.java:881)
at javax.imageio.ImageIO.read(ImageIO.java:1422)
at javax.imageio.ImageIO.read(ImageIO.java:1282)


REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import java.io.File;

public class Test {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
ImageIO.read(new File(args[0]));
}
}
---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
None, other than catching this exception and assuming that it's equivalent to receiving a null return value.