CVE-2024-3220: CWE-426 Untrusted Search Path in Python Software Foundation CPython
Description
There is a defect in the CPython standard library module “mimetypes” where on Windows the default list of known file locations are writable meaning other users can create invalid files to cause MemoryError to be raised on Python runtime startup or have file extensions be interpreted as the incorrect file type. This defect is caused by the default locations of Linux and macOS platforms (such as “/etc/mime.types”) also being used on Windows, where they are user-writable locations (“C:\etc\mime.types”). To work-around this issue a user can call mimetypes.init() with an empty list (“[]”) on Windows platforms to avoid using the default list of known file locations.
CVSS v4.0
Score 2.3low
Affected software
Python Software Foundation
CPython
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Weaknesses
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- PSF
- Date Reserved
- 2024-04-02T18:08:09.733Z
- Cvss Version
- 4.0
- State
- PUBLISHED
Threat ID: 6acfceae2cdf04f656a1f7e7
Added to database: 10/14/2026, 18:49:18 UTC
Last updated: 10/14/2026, 18:49:18 UTC
Views: 1
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