#VU25630 Resource exhaustion in Python - CVE-2019-9674

Vulnerability identifier: #VU25630

Vulnerability risk: Medium

CVSSv4.0: 4.6 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Green]

CVE-ID: CVE-2019-9674

CWE-ID: CWE-400

Exploitation vector: Network

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
Python
Universal components / Libraries / Scripting languages

Vendor: Python.org

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

The vulnerability exists due to improper input validation in Lib/zipfile.py in Python when processing ZIP archives. A remote attacker can pass a specially crafted .zip archive to the application, trigger resource exhaustion and perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

Mitigation
Install updates from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Python: 3.7.0 - 3.7.2

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External links
https://bugs.python.org/issue36260
https://bugs.python.org/issue36462
https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/master/Lib/zipfile.py
https://python-security.readthedocs.io/security.html#archives-and-zip-bomb
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20200221-0003/
https://www.python.org/news/security/

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.