How severe is CVE-2022-24859?

CVE-2022-24859 has a CVSS score of 6.2/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2022-24859?

CVE-2022-24859 affects the following packages: pypdf2 (PyPI). Ecosystems affected: PyPI.

How do I fix CVE-2022-24859?

Update pypdf2 to 1.27.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-24859 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2022-24859 in my PyPI dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for pypdf2. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.

How do I mitigate CVE-2022-24859 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

How does O3 Security protect against CVE-2022-24859?

O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2022-24859 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Is CVE-2022-24859 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 2 known exploit references for CVE-2022-24859, including 2 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2022-24859?

CVE-2022-24859 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 1.3%, placing it in the 66th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2022-24859?

CVE-2022-24859 is classified as CWE-835 (CWE-835). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2022-24859 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2022-24859 was published on April 18, 2022 and was last updated on April 16, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐍 PyPI

CVE-2022-24859

MEDIUM

Manipulated inline images can cause Infinite Loop in PyPDF2

Also known asGHSA-xcjx-m2pj-8g79PYSEC-2022-194

Published

Apr 18, 2022

Updated

Apr 16, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

2 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

1.3%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk66th percentile+1.15%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

Blast Radius

1 pkg affected

🐍pypdf2

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

PyPDF2 is an open source python PDF library capable of splitting, merging, cropping, and transforming the pages of PDF files. In versions prior to 1.27.5 an attacker who uses this vulnerability can craft a PDF which leads to an infinite loop if the PyPDF2 if the code attempts to get the content stream. The reason is that the last while-loop in ContentStream._readInlineImage only terminates when it finds the EI token, but never actually checks if the stream has already ended. This issue has been resolved in version 1.27.5. Users unable to upgrade should validate and PDFs prior to iterating over their content stream.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐍PyPI	`pypdf2`	all versions	1.27.5

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

PyPDF2 is an open source python PDF library capable of splitting, mergin…

github.comNVDApr 2022

PyPDF2 is an open source python PDF library capable of splitting, mergin…

github.comNVDApr 2022

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for pypdf2. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update pypdf2 to 1.27.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-24859 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2022-24859 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Tailored to CVE-2022-24859. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

PyPDF2 is an open source python PDF library capable of splitting, merging, cropping, and transforming the pages of PDF files. In versions prior to 1.27.5 an attacker who uses this vulnerability can craft a PDF which leads to an infinite loop if the PyPDF2 if the code attempts to get the content stream. The reason is that the last while-loop in `ContentStream._readInlineImage` only terminates when it finds the `EI` token, but never actually checks if the stream has already ended. This issue has been resolved in version `1.27.5`. Users unable to upgrade should validate and PDFs prior to iteratin

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2022-24859 in your dependencies?

O3 detects CVE-2022-24859 across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works