GHSA-rhm9-p9w5-fwm7 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.1) CWE-190 vulnerability in cryptography. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-rhm9-p9w5-fwm7 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
PyCA Cryptography symmetrically encrypting large values can lead to integer overflow
Real-World Exposure
cryptographyReal-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
cryptography is a package designed to expose cryptographic primitives and recipes to Python developers. When certain sequences of update() calls with large values (multiple GBs) for symetric encryption or decryption occur, it's possible for an integer overflow to happen, leading to mishandling of buffers. This is patched in version 3.3.2 and newer.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | cryptography | ≥ 3.1&&< 3.3.2 | 3.3.2 |
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 cryptography. 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 cryptography to 3.3.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-rhm9-p9w5-fwm7 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-rhm9-p9w5-fwm7 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-rhm9-p9w5-fwm7. 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.
Triggering this flaw on in versions of python-cryptography as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 BaseOS, Appstream, as well as Red Hat Software Collections, can result in denial of service due to memory consumption or MemoryError exception. In Red Hat OpenStack Platform, because the flaw has a lower impact and…
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-rhm9-p9w5-fwm7 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-rhm9-p9w5-fwm7 across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.