IM 6.8.2.2 Q16 Mac OSX Snow Leopard
It would seem that -frame is not working:
convert -size 200x200 xc:white -mattecolor red -frame 15x15+8+8 show:
convert: frame is less than image size `white' @ error/decorate.c/FrameImage/217
Further testing shows that it fails if the offset parameters are larger than half the size arguments. I think that makes sense, since you cannot have both inner and outer parameters both larger than half. I think the error message could be clearer. Otherwise, this is not a bug. I have to compute my arguments better.