How severe is CVE-2023-46250?

CVE-2023-46250 has a CVSS score of 5.1/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2023-46250?

CVE-2023-46250 affects the following packages: pypdf (PyPI). Ecosystems affected: PyPI.

How do I fix CVE-2023-46250?

Update pypdf to 3.17.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-46250 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2023-46250 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-2023-46250 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-2023-46250?

O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2023-46250 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-2023-46250 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2023-46250 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2023-46250?

CVE-2023-46250 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.2%, placing it in the 15th 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.

When was CVE-2023-46250 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-46250 was published on October 31, 2023 and was last updated on April 2, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

CVE-2023-46250: pypdf (Medium 5.1)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.2%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk15th percentile+0.15%

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

🐍pypdf

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 a free and open-source pure-python PDF library. An attacker who uses a vulnerability present in versions 3.7.0 through 3.16.4 can craft a PDF which leads to an infinite loop. 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 when the pypdf-user manipulates an incoming malicious PDF e.g. by merging it with another PDF or by adding annotations. The issue was fixed in version 3.17.0. As a workaround, apply the patch manually by modifying pypdf/generic/_data_structures.py.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐍PyPI	`pypdf`	≥ 3.7.0&&< 3.17.0	3.17.0

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 3.17.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-46250 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-2023-46250 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-2023-46250. 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 a free and open-source pure-python PDF library. An attacker who uses a vulnerability present in versions 3.7.0 through 3.16.4 can craft a PDF which leads to an infinite loop. 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 when the pypdf-user manipulates an incoming malicious PDF e.g. by merging it with another PDF or by adding annotations. The issue was fixed in version 3.17.0. As a workaround, apply the patch manually by modifying `pypdf/generic/_data_structures.py`.

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2023-46250 in your dependencies?

O3 detects CVE-2023-46250 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

CVE-2023-46250