How severe is CVE-2023-36464?

CVE-2023-36464 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-2023-36464?

CVE-2023-36464 affects the following packages: pypdf (PyPI), pypdf2 (PyPI). Ecosystems affected: PyPI.

How do I fix CVE-2023-36464?

Update pypdf to 3.9.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-36464 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2023-36464 in my PyPI dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for pypdf. 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-2023-36464 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-2023-36464?

O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2023-36464 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-2023-36464 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 1 known exploit references for CVE-2023-36464, including 1 in-the-wild exploitation 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-2023-36464?

CVE-2023-36464 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.3%, placing it in the 26th 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-2023-36464?

CVE-2023-36464 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-2023-36464 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-36464 was published on June 27, 2023 and was last updated on April 10, 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-2023-36464

MEDIUM

Infinite Loop when a comment isn't followed by a character in pypdf

Also known asGHSA-4vvm-4w3v-6mr8

Published

Jun 27, 2023

Updated

Apr 10, 2026

Affected

2 pkgs

Patched

1 / 2

Exploits

1 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.3%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk26th percentile+0.25%

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

2 pkgs affected

🐍pypdf🐍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

pypdf is an open source, pure-python PDF library. In affected versions an attacker may craft a PDF which leads to an infinite loop if __parse_content_stream is executed. That is, for example, the case if the user extracted text from such a PDF. This issue was introduced in pull request #969 and resolved in pull request #1828. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade may modify the line while peek not in (b"\r", b"\n") in pypdf/generic/_data_structures.py to while peek not in (b"\r", b"\n", b"").

Affected Packages

2 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐍PyPI	`pypdf`	≥ 3.1.0&&< 3.9.0	3.9.0
🐍PyPI	`pypdf2`	≥ 2.2.0	No fix

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.

pypdf is an open source, pure-python PDF library. In affected versions a…

github.comNVDJul 2023

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for pypdf. 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 pypdf to 3.9.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-36464 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-2023-36464 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-2023-36464. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

pypdf is an open source, pure-python PDF library. In affected versions an attacker may craft a PDF which leads to an infinite loop if `__parse_content_stream` is executed. That is, for example, the case if the user extracted text from such a PDF. This issue was introduced in pull request #969 and resolved in pull request #1828. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade may modify the line `while peek not in (b"\r", b"\n")` in `pypdf/generic/_data_structures.py` to `while peek not in (b"\r", b"\n", b"")`.

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2023-36464 in your dependencies?

O3 detects CVE-2023-36464 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