GHSA-w42r-mrx7-c633 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-776 vulnerability in llama-index-readers-papers. A fix is available for llama-index-readers-papers — see the affected versions and patch details below.
LlamaIndex has an XML Entity Expansion vulnerability in its sitemap parser
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-w42r-mrx7-c633.
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-w42r-mrx7-c633 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 378,567 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
llama-index-readers-papersReal-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
An XML Entity Expansion vulnerability, also known as a 'billion laughs' attack, exists in the sitemap parser of the run-llama/llama_index repository, specifically affecting the Papers Loaders package before version 0.3.2 (in llama-index v0.10.0 and above through v0.12.29). This vulnerability allows an attacker to supply a malicious Sitemap XML, leading to a Denial of Service (DoS) by exhausting system memory and potentially causing a system crash. The issue is resolved in version 0.3.2 (in llama-index 0.12.29).
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | llama-index-readers-papers | all versions | 0.3.2pip install --upgrade 'llama-index-readers-papers==0.3.2' |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for llama-index-readers-papers, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update llama-index-readers-papers to 0.3.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-w42r-mrx7-c633 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-w42r-mrx7-c633 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-w42r-mrx7-c633. 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-w42r-mrx7-c633 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-w42r-mrx7-c633 across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.