CVE-2023-36807

MEDIUM

pypdf 2.10.5 - Denial of Service via Infinite Loop in PDF Metadata Extraction

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Description

pypdf is a pure-python PDF library capable of splitting, merging, cropping, and transforming the pages of PDF files. In version 2.10.5 an attacker who uses this vulnerability can craft a PDF which leads to an infinite loop. This infinite loop blocks the current process and can utilize a single core of the CPU by 100%. It does not affect memory usage. That is, for example, the case if the user extracted metadata from such a malformed PDF. Versions prior to 2.10.5 throw an error, but do not hang forever. This issue was fixed with https://github.com/py-pdf/pypdf/pull/1331 which has been included in release 2.10.6. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade should modify `PyPDF2/generic/_data_structures.py::read_object` to an an error throwing case. See GHSA-hm9v-vj3r-r55m for details.

References (3)

Core 3
Core References
Exploit, Mitigation, Patch, Vendor Advisory x_refsource_confirm
https://github.com/py-pdf/pypdf/security/advisories/GHSA-hm9v-vj3r-r55m
Exploit, Issue Tracking, Vendor Advisory x_refsource_misc
https://github.com/py-pdf/pypdf/issues/1329

Scores

CVSS v3 6.2
EPSS 0.0052
EPSS Percentile 39.8%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CISA SSVC

Vulnrichment
Exploitation poc
Automatable no
Technical Impact partial

Details

CWE
CWE-835
Status published
Products (2)
pypdf_project/pypdf 2.10.5
pypi/PyPDF2 2.10.5 - 2.10.6PyPI
Published Jun 30, 2023
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026