CVE-2026-115585
Description
A flaw was found in pypdf. A remote attacker could cause a Denial of Service (DoS) by convincing a user or automated system to process a crafted PDF file containing repeated malformed cross-reference entries. Due to an issue in the stream recovery caching mechanism, the library repeatedly reloads the entire PDF stream during each recovery attempt, resulting in excessive processing time and resource exhaustion.
Statement
This vulnerability is rated with Moderate impact because triggering the denial of service requires processing an untrusted, maliciously constructed document, affecting only service availability without compromising system confidentiality or integrity. In Red Hat environments, such as OpenShift Lightspeed and OpenShift AI, pypdf is utilized for automated document ingestion and indexing workflows. While an attacker can submit malformed inputs to cause excessive CPU consumption and processing delays in affected ingestion pipelines, the scope of impact remains limited to temporary resource exhaustion.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.5 | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | N/A |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | N/A |
| User Interaction | Required | N/A | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | N/A |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)
When allocating resources without limits, an attacker could prevent other systems, applications, or processes from accessing the same type of resource. It can be easy for an attacker to consume many resources by rapidly making many requests or causing larger resources to be used than is needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not sure what something means? Check out our Security Glossary.
Want to get errata notifications? Sign up here.