VulnerabilityPublished 13 Aug 2026Updated 31 Oct 2026

CVE-2026-28804: Psutils · pypdf vulnerable to inefficient decoding of ASCIIHexDecode streams

Affects psutilsSource GCVE Database

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Authoritative record:CVE-2026-28804· Medium 6.9

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.9 Medium : upgrade to 3.3.14_8 when convenient.

Data as of 1 Nov 2026, 00:20 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score

6.9Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

Patch: Available – fixed in 3.3.14_8

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Attack Requirements: None
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None
Vulnerable system integrity: None
Vulnerable system availability: Low
Subsequent system confidentiality: None
Subsequent system integrity: None
Subsequent system availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable system is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed below, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed “remotely exploitable” and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: The attacker must take no measurable action to exploit the vulnerability. The attack requires no target-specific circumvention to exploit the vulnerability. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: None: The successful attack does not depend on the deployment and execution conditions of the vulnerable system. The attacker can expect to be able to reach the vulnerability and execute the exploit under all or most instances of the vulnerability.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files of the vulnerable system to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without interaction from any human user, other than the attacker.
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the Vulnerable System are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Subsequent System or all confidentiality impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Subsequent System or all integrity impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Subsequent System or all availability impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v4.0 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 6 Mar 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 31 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade psutils to 3.3.14_8.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Homebrewpsutils`pkg:brew/psutils`Other threats	Affected >=3.0 <3.3.14_8	Fixed in 3.3.14_8

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

Upgrade to pypdf version 3.3.14_8 or later, where the vulnerability is fixed. If upgrading is not immediately possible, apply the changes from pull request #3666 in the pypdf GitHub repository as a temporary workaround.

Description

CVE-2026-28804 is a vulnerability in psutils' pypdf component where inefficient decoding of ASCIIHexDecode streams can cause long runtimes. An attacker can craft a malicious PDF that triggers this inefficiency. The issue is fixed in pypdf version 3.3.14_8. Users unable to upgrade immediately can apply the changes from the referenced pull request as a workaround.

Impact

An attacker can cause long runtimes by supplying a PDF with an ASCIIHexDecode stream that triggers inefficient decoding. This can lead to denial of service conditions due to resource exhaustion on systems processing such PDFs. There is no indication of privilege escalation, code execution, or data disclosure.

Summary

This vulnerability involves inefficient decoding of PDF streams filtered with /ASCIIHexDecode in the pypdf library used by psutils. Exploiting this flaw requires an attacker to provide a specially crafted PDF that causes the decoder to consume excessive processing time, leading to potential denial of service through resource exhaustion. The issue affects versions from 3.0 up to but not including 3.3.14_8. The problem has been addressed in version 3.3.14_8, which contains the fix. No known exploits are reported in the wild.

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Exploitation evidence

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Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 1 Nov 2026, 00:20 UTC

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