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GHSA-7gw9-cf7v-778f CVE-2026-41312 PYSEC-2026-3011

pypdf: Manipulated FlateDecode predictor parameters can exhaust RAM

Medium PyPI
Severity
0.0 / 10
Medium · CVSS 4.0
Exploit chance (EPSS)
0.23%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 13.41% of scored vulnerabilities.
Known exploited
No
Not in CISA's catalog
Weakness
CWE-789 Memory Allocation with Excessive Size Value
Fix
6.10.2
Upgrade pypdf to this version or later

Description

Impact

An attacker who uses this vulnerability can craft a PDF which leads to the RAM being exhausted. This requires accessing a stream compressed using /FlateDecode with a /Predictor unequal 1 and large predictor parameters.

Patches

This has been fixed in pypdf==6.10.2.

Workarounds

If you cannot upgrade yet, consider applying the changes from PR #3734.

Affected versions

PyPI

PackageVulnerableFixed in
pypdf
< 6.10.2
6.10.2

How to fix

Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.

pypdf PyPI → 6.10.2

pip
pip install --upgrade "pypdf>=6.10.2"
poetry
poetry add "pypdf>=6.10.2"
uv
uv add "pypdf>=6.10.2"

Severity breakdown

CVSS 4.0 0.0

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Attack requirements
None
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Passive
Confidentiality (vulnerable system)
None
Integrity (vulnerable system)
None
Availability (vulnerable system)
High
Confidentiality (subsequent systems)
None
Integrity (subsequent systems)
None
Availability (subsequent systems)
None

CVSS 3.1 6.5

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Weakness

CWE-789: Memory Allocation with Excessive Size Value

The product allocates memory based on an untrusted, large size value, but it does not ensure that the size is within expected limits, allowing arbitrary amounts of memory to be allocated.

How to prevent it
  • Implementation, Architecture and Design: Perform adequate input validation against any value that influences the amount of memory that is allocated. Define an appropriate strategy for handling requests that exceed the limit, and consider supporting a configuration option so that the administrator can extend the amount of memory to be used if necessary.
  • Operation: Run your program using system-provided resource limits for memory. This might still cause the program to crash or exit, but the impact to the rest of the system will be minimized.

References

Timeline

  1. Published
  2. Last updated by the source
  3. Latest EPSS score
AdvisorySeverityWhy it's related
GHSA-5849-834g-hvw5
pypdf has possible infinite loop when hitting EOF in standard xref table during trailer search
High Also affects pypdf
GHSA-cggf-277g-3q54
pypdf has possible large memory usage when parsing page tree
High Also affects pypdf
GHSA-mfr5-77xh-9j7h
pypdf has possible infinite loop when cloning dictionaries
High Also affects pypdf
GHSA-42gh-23hr-vphw
pypdf has possible long runtimes when retrieving page labels
High Also affects pypdf
GHSA-4vqv-7265-gm2w
pypdf has possible large memory usage for exceptions in strict mode
High Also affects pypdf
GHSA-62m5-6wh8-28x7
pypdf has possible long runtimes/large memory usage for encrypted PDF files
High Also affects pypdf
GHSA-x3rh-gjgm-fmqc
pypdf has possible large memory usage when parsing cross-reference streams
High Also affects pypdf
GHSA-jr96-gvgh-j3r4
pypdf: Possible long runtimes for repeated malformed cross-reference entries (Follow-up)
High Also affects pypdf
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