Denial of service via unbounded XMP parsing
Published May 28, 2026 · Updated May 28, 2026
Denial of service in pypdf before 6.12.1 allows attackers to exhaust process memory by supplying a PDF with oversized XMP metadata. The XMP metadata parser materializes attacker-controlled XML elements without input-size or element-count limits. Exploitation requires an application to parse attacker-supplied PDF metadata; the documented effect is availability loss from memory exhaustion.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in pypdf before 6.12.1 allows attackers to exhaust process memory by supplying a PDF with oversized XMP metadata. The XMP metadata parser materializes attacker-controlled XML elements without input-size or element-count limits. Exploitation requires an application to parse attacker-supplied PDF metadata; the documented effect is availability loss from memory exhaustion.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-48735
- Published
- May 28, 2026
- Updated
- May 28, 2026
- Vendor
- py-pdf
- Product
- pypdf
- Classifications
- CWE-770, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 28, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 28, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=< 6.12.1
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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