Security Resilience

CVE-2023-36810

DoS in Pypdf Project Pypdf ≤ 1.27.8

Public PoCDoS
Published
30 June 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.2
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0063 49th percentile
Risk Priority 49 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-36810 is a medium-severity Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity (CWE-407) vulnerability in Pypdf Project Pypdf. Its CVSS base score is 6.2 (Medium).

Operationally, ranked at the 49th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

pypdf is a pure-python PDF library capable of splitting, merging, cropping, and transforming the pages of PDF files. An attacker who uses this vulnerability can craft a PDF which leads to unexpected long runtime. This quadratic runtime blocks the current…

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process and can utilize a single core of the CPU by 100%. It does not affect memory usage. This issue has been addressed in PR 808 and versions from 1.27.9 include this fix. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-49460Same product: Pypdf Project Pypdf
CVE-2026-28804Same product: Pypdf Project Pypdf
CVE-2026-102999Same product: Pypdf Project Pypdf
CVE-2026-33123Same product: Pypdf Project Pypdf
CVE-2026-102994Same product: Pypdf Project Pypdf
CVE-2026-102997Same product: Pypdf Project Pypdf
CVE-2026-54531Same product: Pypdf Project Pypdf
CVE-2026-59935Same product: Pypdf Project Pypdf
CVE-2026-102993Same product: Pypdf Project Pypdf
CVE-2026-57204Same product: Pypdf Project Pypdf

Affected Assets

pypdf project
pypdf
≤ 1.27.8

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-407

Addresses inefficient algorithms whose complexity can be exploited for DoS.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

degrades

Redundancy of processing facilities can absorb resource exhaustion from inefficient algorithms.

finds

Monitoring activities can identify anomalous resource consumption indicative of algorithmic complexity attacks.

blocks

Secure development life cycle includes design reviews that can catch inefficient algorithms before deployment.

blocks

Secure system architecture principles encourage selection of algorithms with acceptable worst-case complexity.

prevents

Secure coding practices can include guidelines to avoid or mitigate inefficient algorithms.

finds

Security testing can uncover performance issues stemming from algorithmic complexity.

Hardening callouts derived

DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.

  • No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-407, a class-level weakness, and none of its children carries one either.

References