CVE-2026-96640

Pillow PDF append accepts malformed shared page-tree DAG causing resource exhaustion

HIGH
7.5
CVSS Score
Published: October 21, 2026 at 09:03 PM UTC
Updated: October 28, 2026 at 02:17 AM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsPillowPillow

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Severity
HIGH7.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.6%
SSVC
PoC

Description

Pillow is a Python imaging library. From 5.1.0 until 13.0.0, PdfParser.linearize_page_tree() in src/PIL/PdfParser.py treats a PDF /Pages graph as a tree without tracking duplicate indirect references. When Image.save(..., format="PDF", append=True) processes an attacker-controlled existing PDF whose /Kids arrays repeatedly reference the same child /Pages node, Pillow expands the shared subtree as distinct pages. A compact malformed PDF can therefore create exponentially many page references and consume disproportionate CPU before the append completes. This issue is fixed in version 13.0.0.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

5.1.0 ≤ v < 13.0.0

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

References (4)

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCPoCAutomatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-400CWE-407

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