CVE-2023-36464 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.2) CWE-835 vulnerability in pypdf. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for pypdf — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Infinite Loop when a comment isn't followed by a character in pypdf
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2023-36464.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
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.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2023-36464 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,636 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
pypdf🐍pypdf2Real-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
Impact
An attacker who uses this vulnerability can craft a PDF which leads to an infinite loop if __parse_content_stream is executed. This infinite loop blocks the current process and can utilize a single core of the CPU by 100%. It does not affect memory usage. That is, for example, the case if the user extracted text from such a PDF.
Example Code and a PDF that causes the issue:
from pypdf import PdfReader
# https://objects.githubusercontent.com/github-production-repository-file-5c1aeb/3119517/11367871?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIWNJYAX4CSVEH53A%2F20230627%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230627T201018Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Signature=d71c8fd9181c4875f0c04d563b6d32f1d4da6e7b2e6be2f14479ce4ecdc9c8b2&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&actor_id=1658117&key_id=0&repo_id=3119517&response-content-disposition=attachment%3Bfilename%3DMiFO_LFO_FEIS_NOA_Published.3.pdf&response-content-type=application%2Fpdf
reader = PdfReader("MiFO_LFO_FEIS_NOA_Published.3.pdf")
page = reader.pages[0]
page.extract_text()
The issue was introduced with https://github.com/py-pdf/pypdf/pull/969
Patches
The issue was fixed with https://github.com/py-pdf/pypdf/pull/1828
Workarounds
It is recommended to upgrade to pypdf>=3.9.0. PyPDF2 users should migrate to pypdf.
If you cannot update your version of pypdf, you should modify pypdf/generic/_data_structures.py:
OLD: while peek not in (b"\r", b"\n"):
NEW: while peek not in (b"\r", b"\n", b""):
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | pypdf | ≥ 3.1.0&&< 3.9.0 | 3.9.0pip install --upgrade 'pypdf==3.9.0' |
| 🐍PyPI | pypdf2 | ≥ 2.2.0 | No fix |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for pypdf, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2023-36464 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
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.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Quay 3 | quay/clair-rhel8:v3.9.1-1 | RHBA-2023:4974 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-36464 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-36464 across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.