CVE-2026-59942
CVE-2026-59942 is a Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in dompdf/dompdf. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2026-59942 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Dompdf: Denial of Service (DoS) via Resource Exhaustion using Oversized Image Bitmaps
Blast Radius
dompdf/dompdfReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Dompdf is an HTML to PDF converter for PHP. Versions 3.15 and prior are vulnerable to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack via resource exhaustion. An attacker can crash the PHP process by providing a specially crafted HTML document containing a single image with massive dimensions (e.g., 30,000x30,000 pixels). While Dompdf implements internal checks to validate image dimensions, these can be bypassed by using a high-entropy image (such as random noise) encoded in Base64 and wrapped in specific CSS containers. The vulnerability exists because the dimension validation happens early, but the resource allocation for calculating the object's bounding box and internal buffers during the rendering phase does not strictly limit the cumulative CPU time or memory usage for a single object that has passed the initial check. An unauthenticated remote attacker can cause a complete Denial of Service on the web server by submitting a crafted HTML string. This affects any application that allows users to provide HTML content or URLs that are subsequently converted to PDF using Dompdf. This issue has been fixed in version 3.16.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | dompdf/dompdf | all versions | 3.1.6 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for dompdf/dompdf. 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 dompdf/dompdf to 3.1.6 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-59942 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-2026-59942 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-2026-59942. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-59942 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2026-59942 across Packagist dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.