CVE-2026-48735: CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in py-pdf pypdf
pypdf is a free and open-source pure-python PDF library. Prior to 6.12.1, an attacker who uses this vulnerability can craft a PDF which leads to large memory usage. This requires parsing large XMP metadata, possibly with lots of unnecessary elements. This vulnerability is fixed in 6.12.1.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
The vulnerability CVE-2026-48735 affects the pypdf library, a pure-Python PDF processing tool. Versions before 6.12.1 do not impose limits on resource allocation when parsing XMP metadata in PDFs. An attacker can exploit this by crafting a PDF with large or complex XMP metadata containing many unnecessary elements, causing the library to consume large amounts of memory. This can degrade system performance or cause denial of service conditions due to resource exhaustion. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling). The issue is resolved in pypdf version 6.12.1.
Potential Impact
Exploitation of this vulnerability can lead to high memory usage on systems processing maliciously crafted PDFs with large XMP metadata. This may result in degraded performance or denial of service due to resource exhaustion. There is no indication of privilege escalation, code execution, or data disclosure from the provided information.
Mitigation Recommendations
Upgrade to pypdf version 6.12.1 or later, where this vulnerability is fixed. Since the vendor advisory confirms the fix in 6.12.1, applying this update fully mitigates the issue. No additional mitigation steps are indicated.
CVE-2026-48735: CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in py-pdf pypdf
Description
pypdf is a free and open-source pure-python PDF library. Prior to 6.12.1, an attacker who uses this vulnerability can craft a PDF which leads to large memory usage. This requires parsing large XMP metadata, possibly with lots of unnecessary elements. This vulnerability is fixed in 6.12.1.
CVSS v4.0
Score 6.9medium
Affected software
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Weaknesses
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
The vulnerability CVE-2026-48735 affects the pypdf library, a pure-Python PDF processing tool. Versions before 6.12.1 do not impose limits on resource allocation when parsing XMP metadata in PDFs. An attacker can exploit this by crafting a PDF with large or complex XMP metadata containing many unnecessary elements, causing the library to consume large amounts of memory. This can degrade system performance or cause denial of service conditions due to resource exhaustion. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling). The issue is resolved in pypdf version 6.12.1.
Potential Impact
Exploitation of this vulnerability can lead to high memory usage on systems processing maliciously crafted PDFs with large XMP metadata. This may result in degraded performance or denial of service due to resource exhaustion. There is no indication of privilege escalation, code execution, or data disclosure from the provided information.
Mitigation Recommendations
Upgrade to pypdf version 6.12.1 or later, where this vulnerability is fixed. Since the vendor advisory confirms the fix in 6.12.1, applying this update fully mitigates the issue. No additional mitigation steps are indicated.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- GitHub_M
- Date Reserved
- 2026-05-22T19:10:35.746Z
- Cvss Version
- 4.0
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Remediation Level
- null
Threat ID: 6a186056e29bf47b500b42e1
Added to database: 05/28/2026, 15:33:42 UTC
Last enriched: 06/04/2026, 20:26:52 UTC
Last updated: 07/31/2026, 19:22:59 UTC
Views: 82
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