CVE-2023-24808: michaelrsweet pdfio Infinite Loop

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2023-24808 is a medium (CVSS 6.5) Infinite Loop vulnerability in michaelrsweet pdfio. EPSS estimates a 0.72% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 53.2% of scored vulnerabilities. 1 public exploit is recorded.

Timeline

1. 07-02-2023
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 10-03-2025
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

PDFio is a C library for reading and writing PDF files. In versions prior to 1.1.0 a denial of service (DOS) vulnerability exists in the pdfio parser. Crafted pdf files can cause the program to run at 100% utilization and never terminate. The pdf which causes this crash found in testing is about 28kb in size and was discovered via fuzzing. Anyone who uses this library either as a standalone binary or as a library can be DOSed when attempting to parse this type of file. Web servers or other automated processes which rely on this code to turn pdf submissions into plaintext can be DOSed when an attacker uploads the pdf. Please see the linked GHSA for an example pdf. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

• CWE-835Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop')The product contains an iteration or loop with an exit condition that cannot be reached, i.e., an infinite loop.