GHSA-mrwq-x4v8-fh7p is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.5) Unrestricted File Upload vulnerability in pygments. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for pygments — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Pygments vulnerable to ReDoS
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-mrwq-x4v8-fh7p.
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
GHSA-mrwq-x4v8-fh7p 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 377,166 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
pygmentsReal-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
A ReDoS issue was discovered in pygments/lexers/smithy.py in Pygments until 2.15.0 via SmithyLexer.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | pygments | all versions | 2.15.0pip install --upgrade 'pygments==2.15.0' |
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 pygments, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update pygments to 2.15.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-mrwq-x4v8-fh7p 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 GHSA-mrwq-x4v8-fh7p can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-mrwq-x4v8-fh7p. 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.
https://pyup.io/posts/pyup-discovers-redos-vulnerabilities-in-top-python-packages-part-2/ https://data.safetycli.com/vulnerabilities/CVE-2022-40896/58910/?utm_source=pyupio&utm_medium=redirect&utm_campaign=pyup_rd&utm_id=0817&utm_content=data
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 8 | python3x-pygments-0:2.17.2-1.el8ap | RHSA-2024:1057 |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 8 | ansible-automation-platform-24/ee-supported-rhel8:1.0.0-572 | RHSA-2024:1072 |
| Red Hat Satellite 6.15 for RHEL 8 | python-pygments-0:2.17.0-1.el8pc | RHSA-2024:2010 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-mrwq-x4v8-fh7p in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-mrwq-x4v8-fh7p across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.