CVE-2022-45199: Pillow Denial of Service Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-q4mp-jvh2-76fj
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CVSS 7.5
CWE-400
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2022-45199 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) denial of service vulnerability (CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) affecting Pillow libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves pillow subject to dos via samplesperpixel tag. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 9.3.0.

CVE-2022-45199 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2022-45199
GHSA Identifier GHSA-q4mp-jvh2-76fj
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Affected Product Pillow
Package Ecosystem PyPI
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2022-45199

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Pillow dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

pillow fixed: 9.3.0 
pip install pillow>=9.3.0
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

pip show pillow

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Python environment is affected by CVE-2022-45199, inspect your installed packages using pip:

pip show pillow

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Pillow in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 9.3.0), your application is affected.

Note: The pip show pillow command checks currently installed packages in your active Python environment.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption, where the product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource. In Pillow, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

Pillow starting with 9.2.0 and prior to 9.3.0 allows denial of service via SAMPLESPERPIXEL. A large value in the SAMPLESPERPIXEL tag could lead to a memory and runtime DOS in TiffImagePlugin.py when setting up the context for image decoding. This issue has been patched in version 9.3.0.

CVE-2022-45199 Affected Pillow Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
9.3.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
pillow
pypi/pillow
PyPI
≥ 9.2.0
< 9.3.0
9.3.0

References

NVD — CVE-2022-45199 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-45199
Pillow Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/pull/6700
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/commit/2444cddab2f83f28687c7c20871574acbb6dbcf3
bugs.gentoo.org/878769 WEB
https://bugs.gentoo.org/878769
Pillow Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/pillow/PYSEC-2022-42980.yaml
Pillow Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow
Pillow Release RELEASE
https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/releases/tag/9.3.0
Pillow Security Information SECURITY
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202211-10

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2022-45199?
CVE-2022-45199 is a security vulnerability in Pillow involving Pillow subject to DoS via SAMPLESPERPIXEL tag under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption.
Which Pillow versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 9.3.0 across affected packages: pillow.
What version fixes CVE-2022-45199?
Upgrading to 9.3.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is pillow affected?
Yes, pillow is affected in releases prior to 9.3.0. Upgrade your dependency to 9.3.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2022-45199?
CVE-2022-45199 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2022-45199?
CVE-2022-45199 is classified under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.).
How can I check PyPI dependencies for CVE-2022-45199?
Run the dependency tree command: 'pip show pillow'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-q4mp-jvh2-76fj",
  "modified" : "2024-10-11T20:42:00Z",
  "published" : "2022-11-14T12:00:15Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2022-45199" ],
  "summary" : "Pillow subject to DoS via SAMPLESPERPIXEL tag",
  "details" : "Pillow starting with 9.2.0 and prior to 9.3.0 allows denial of service via SAMPLESPERPIXEL. A large value in the SAMPLESPERPIXEL tag could lead to a memory and runtime DOS in TiffImagePlugin.py when setting up the context for image decoding. This issue has been patched in version 9.3.0.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  }, {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "pillow"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "9.2.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "9.3.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-45199"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/pull/6700"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/commit/2444cddab2f83f28687c7c20871574acbb6dbcf3"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://bugs.gentoo.org/878769"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/pillow/PYSEC-2022-42980.yaml"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow/releases/tag/9.3.0"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202211-10"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-400" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2022-11-15T13:24:05Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2022-11-14T07:15:00Z"
  }
}