CVE-2023-24808
Denial Of Service when opening a corrupt PDF file in pdfio
PDFio is a C library for reading and writing PDF files. In versions prior to 1.1.0 a denial of service (DOS) vulnerability exists in the pdfio parser. Crafted pdf files can cause the program to run at 100% utilization and never terminate. The pdf which causes this crash found in testing is about 28kb in size and was discovered via fuzzing. Anyone who uses this library either as a standalone binary or as a library can be DOSed when attempting to parse this type of file. Web servers or other automated processes which rely on this code to turn pdf submissions into plaintext can be DOSed when an attacker uploads the pdf. Please see the linked GHSA for an example pdf. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Low
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
5.3
Denial Of Service when opening a corrupt PDF file in pdfio
PDFio is a C library for reading and writing PDF files. In versions prior to 1.1.0 a denial of service (DOS) vulnerability exists in the pdfio parser. Crafted pdf files can cause the program to run at 100% utilization and never terminate. The pdf which causes this crash found in testing is about 28kb in size and was discovered via fuzzing. Anyone who uses this library either as a standalone binary or as a library can be DOSed when attempting to parse this type of file. Web servers or other automated processes which rely on this code to turn pdf submissions into plaintext can be DOSed when an attacker uploads the pdf. Please see the linked GHSA for an example pdf. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
CVE-2023-24808- CVSS 3.1
- 5.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L - Weakness
- CWE-835
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-28806
5.3
PDFio is a C library for reading and writing PDF files. In versions prior to 1.1.0 a denial of service (DOS) vulnerability exists in the pdfio parser. Crafted pdf files can cause the program to run at 100% utilization and never terminate. The pdf which causes this crash found in testing is about 28kb in size and was discovered via fuzzing. Anyone who uses this library either as a standalone binary or as a library can be DOSed when attempting to parse this type of file. Web servers or other automated processes which rely on this code to turn pdf submissions into plaintext can be DOSed when an attacker uploads the pdf. Please see the linked GHSA for an example pdf. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
EUVD-2023-28806- CVSS 3.1
- 5.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L - Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
5.3
PDFio is a C library for reading and writing PDF files. In versions prior to 1.1.0 a denial of service (DOS) vulnerability exists in the pdfio parser. Crafted pdf files can cause the program to run at 100% utilization and never terminate. The pdf which causes this crash found in testing is about 28kb in size and was discovered via fuzzing. Anyone who uses this library either as a standalone binary or as a library can be DOSed when attempting to parse this type of file. Web servers or other automated processes which rely on this code to turn pdf submissions into plaintext can be DOSed when an attacker uploads the pdf. Please see the linked GHSA for an example pdf. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
CVE-2023-24808- CVSS 3.1
- 5.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L - CVSS 3.1
- 6.5 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-835
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
5.3
Denial Of Service when opening a corrupt PDF file in pdfio
PDFio is a C library for reading and writing PDF files. In versions prior to 1.1.0 a denial of service (DOS) vulnerability exists in the pdfio parser. Crafted pdf files can cause the program to run at 100% utilization and never terminate. The pdf which causes this crash found in testing is about 28kb in size and was discovered via fuzzing. Anyone who uses this library either as a standalone binary or as a library can be DOSed when attempting to parse this type of file. Web servers or other automated processes which rely on this code to turn pdf submissions into plaintext can be DOSed when an attacker uploads the pdf. Please see the linked GHSA for an example pdf. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
CVE-2023-24808- CVSS 3.1
- 5.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L - Weakness
- CWE-835
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2023-24808
6.5
PDFio is a C library for reading and writing PDF files. In versions prior to 1.1.0 a denial of service (DOS) vulnerability exists in the pdfio parser. Crafted pdf files can cause the program to run at 100% utilization and never terminate. The pdf which causes this crash found in testing is about 28kb in size and was discovered via fuzzing. Anyone who uses this library either as a standalone binary or as a library can be DOSed when attempting to parse this type of file. Web servers or other automated processes which rely on this code to turn pdf submissions into plaintext can be DOSed when an attacker uploads the pdf. Please see the linked GHSA for an example pdf. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2023-24808- CVSS 3.1
- 6.5 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2023-24808
5.3
PDFio is a C library for reading and writing PDF files. In versions prior to 1.1.0 a denial of service (DOS) vulnerability exists in the pdfio parser. Crafted pdf files can cause the program to run at 100% utilization and never terminate. The pdf which causes this crash found in testing is about 28kb in size and was discovered via fuzzing. Anyone who uses this library either as a standalone binary or as a library can be DOSed when attempting to parse this type of file. Web servers or other automated processes which rely on this code to turn pdf submissions into plaintext can be DOSed when an attacker uploads the pdf. Please see the linked GHSA for an example pdf. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2023-24808- CVSS 3.1
- 5.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L - CVSS 3.1
- 6.5 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
ippsampleDebian:12 |
before 0.0~git20220215.f365352-1 | 0.0~git20220215.f365352-1 |
ippsampleDebian:14 |
before 0.0~git20220215.f365352-1, plus listed versions 0.0~git20210916.53e4740-10.0~git20210916.53e4740-20.0~git20211022.c75af30-10.0~git20211022.c75af30-2 |
0.0~git20220215.f365352-1 |
ippsampleUbuntu:18.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 0.0+20180213-0ubuntu1 |
None known |
ippsampleUbuntu:20.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 0.0+20180213-0ubuntu1 |
None known |
ippsampleUbuntu:22.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 0.0+20180213-0ubuntu1 |
None known |
ippsampleUbuntu:24.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 0.0+20180213-0ubuntu10.0+20180213-0ubuntu20.0+20180213-0ubuntu3 |
None known |
ippsampleUbuntu:25.10 |
All versions, plus listed versions 0.0+20180213-0ubuntu3 |
None known |
ippsampleUbuntu:26.10 |
All versions, plus listed versions 0.0.0~git20220215.f365352-1build10.0.0~git20220215.f365352-2 |
None known |
ippsampleUbuntu:26.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 0.0+20180213-0ubuntu30.0.0~git20220215.f365352-10.0.0~git20220215.f365352-1build1 |
None known |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| first indexed | CVE List, EUVD, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2023-24808 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.3) in Michaelrsweet Pdfio, published February 7, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.72%, the 54th percentile. Fixed in ippsample 0.0~git20220215.f365352-1.
References
github.com/michaelrsweet/pdfio/security/advisories/GHSA-cjc4-x96x-fvgf
github.com/michaelrsweet/pdfio/commit/4f10021e7ee527c1aa24853e2947e38e154d9ccb
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/24xxx/CVE-2023-24808.json
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-24808
security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-24808
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-24808
cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-24808