CVE-2022-40898: Wheel Denial of Service Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-qwmp-2cf2-g9g6
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CVSS 7.5
CWE-1333
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2022-40898 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) denial of service vulnerability (CWE-1333: Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity) affecting Wheel libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves pypa/wheel vulnerable to regular expression denial of service (redos). Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 0.38.1.

CVE-2022-40898 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2022-40898
GHSA Identifier GHSA-qwmp-2cf2-g9g6
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-1333: Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity
Affected Product Wheel
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-2022-40898

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

wheel fixed: 0.38.1 
pip install wheel>=0.38.1
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 wheel

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Python environment is affected by CVE-2022-40898, inspect your installed packages using pip:

pip show wheel

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Wheel in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 0.38.1), your application is affected.

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

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-1333: Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity, where the product uses a regular expression with a worst-case computational complexity that is inefficient and possibly exponential. In Wheel, 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

Python Packaging Authority (PyPA) Wheel is a reference implementation of the Python wheel packaging standard. Wheel 0.37.1 and earlier are vulnerable to a Regular Expression denial of service via attacker controlled input to the wheel cli. The vulnerable regex is used to verify the validity of Wheel file names. This has been patched in version 0.38.1.

CVE-2022-40898 Affected Wheel Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
0.38.1
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
wheel
pypi/wheel
PyPI
< 0.38.1
0.38.1

References

NVD — CVE-2022-40898 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-40898
Wheel Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/wheel/PYSEC-2022-43017.yaml
Wheel Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/pypa/wheel
Wheel Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/pypa/wheel/blob/main/src/wheel/wheelfile.py#L18
pypi.org/project/wheel WEB
https://pypi.org/project/wheel
pyup.io/posts/pyup-discover... WEB
https://pyup.io/posts/pyup-discovers-redos-vulnerabilities-in-top-python-packages
pyup.io/vulnerabilities/cve... WEB
https://pyup.io/vulnerabilities/CVE-2022-40898/51499

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2022-40898?
CVE-2022-40898 is a security vulnerability in Wheel involving pypa/wheel vulnerable to Regular Expression denial of service (ReDoS) under CWE-1333: Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity.
Which Wheel versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 0.38.1 across affected packages: wheel.
What version fixes CVE-2022-40898?
Upgrading to 0.38.1 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is wheel affected?
Yes, wheel is affected in releases prior to 0.38.1. Upgrade your dependency to 0.38.1 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2022-40898?
CVE-2022-40898 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-2022-40898?
CVE-2022-40898 is classified under CWE-1333: Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity (The product uses a regular expression with a worst-case computational complexity that is inefficient and possibly exponential.).
How can I check PyPI dependencies for CVE-2022-40898?
Run the dependency tree command: 'pip show wheel'. 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-qwmp-2cf2-g9g6",
  "modified" : "2024-11-19T19:04:07Z",
  "published" : "2022-12-23T00:30:23Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2022-40898" ],
  "summary" : "pypa/wheel vulnerable to Regular Expression denial of service (ReDoS)",
  "details" : "Python Packaging Authority (PyPA) Wheel is a reference implementation of the Python wheel packaging standard. Wheel 0.37.1 and earlier are vulnerable to a Regular Expression denial of service via attacker controlled input to the wheel cli. The vulnerable regex is used to verify the validity of Wheel file names. This has been patched in version 0.38.1.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "wheel"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "0.38.1"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-40898"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/wheel/PYSEC-2022-43017.yaml"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/pypa/wheel"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/pypa/wheel/blob/main/src/wheel/wheelfile.py#L18"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://pypi.org/project/wheel"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://pyup.io/posts/pyup-discovers-redos-vulnerabilities-in-top-python-packages"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://pyup.io/vulnerabilities/CVE-2022-40898/51499"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-1333" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2022-12-26T19:42:25Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2022-12-23T00:15:00Z"
  }
}