| Package | Affected versions | Patched versions |
|---|---|---|
| pillow | < 13.0.0 | 13.0.0 |
| pillow | < 13.0.0 | 13.0.0 |
SpiderImagePlugin's seek() bypasses the decompression bomb check, allowing a tiny (<1KB) crafted SPIDER stack file to trigger a multi-gigabyte allocation on im.load().
All versions up to and including current HEAD (v13.0.0.dev0, commit e7a7ea84)
Image.open() runs Image._decompression_bomb_check(im.size) exactly once, in _open_core (src/PIL/Image.py:3668), right after the initial _open().
SPIDER stack files are multi-frame: SpiderImageFile.seek(frame) (SpiderImagePlugin.py:179-190) computes an attacker-influenced stkoffset and calls self._open() AGAIN directly (line 190) — NOT through Image.open(). _open() re-parses a fresh 27-float header at that offset and reassigns:
self._size = int(h[12]), int(h[2]) # SpiderImagePlugin.py:131
straight from unvalidated header floats (isSpiderHeader only checks internal labrec*lenbyt==labbyt consistency, never bounds nsam/nrow). No bomb check runs on this new size.
On the subsequent load(), ImageFile.load_prepare() (ImageFile.py:436-437) executes self.im = Image.core.new(self.mode, self.size) with the unchecked, attacker-chosen size. Mode is always "F" (4 bytes/pixel), so e.g. 40000x40000 = 6.4 GB.
Sibling multi-frame plugins DO re-check on their alternate paths:
SpiderImagePlugin has NO bomb check anywhere. This is the same class of bug just fixed for GdImageFile (GHSA-phj9-mv4w-65pm) and the FontFile classes (GHSA-5x94/8v84/45hq): an allocation reached on a non-Image.open() path sized by an attacker header field, independent of the one-time pixel bomb check.
Python 3.13, Pillow HEAD e7a7ea84
Attached: pillow_poc_spider_bomb.py
Sets Image.MAX_IMAGE_PIXELS=5000, then:
Real-world impact: a large frame-1 nsam/nrow (e.g. 40000x40000) causes im.load() to allocate ~6.4 GB (mode F) with the bomb check fully bypassed, from a file under 1 KB.
Call Image._decompression_bomb_check(self.size) at the end of SpiderImageFile._open() (or in seek() after _open()), mirroring GifImagePlugin / TiffImagePlugin. Optionally validate nsam/nrow are positive and sane in _open().
Credit: Yazan Balawneh - CyStack Security Team pillow_poc_spider_bomb.py
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