GitHub Advisoryadvisory · PyPI
GHSA-8q6g-vjhf-jp8m psd-tools composite/numpy has uncontrolled memory allocation via crafted PSD geometry
HIGH
Official page ↗
- Aliases
- CVE-2026-59991
- Ecosystem
- PyPI
- Packages
- psd-tools
- Severity
- High
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- Weaknesses
- CWE-789
- Reviewed
- 2026-09-22
Affected packages
• PyPI psd-tools: < 1.17.4 → fixed in 1.17.4
Description
Summary
`PSDImage.composite()` (and `.numpy()`) allocate the output image buffer from the PSD's header geometry (width × height × channels × depth, and per-layer rectangles) before validating those values against the actual file contents. A tiny crafted PSD declaring huge dimensions causes a multi-gigabyte allocation. Critically, `composite()` then returns a (black) image with only a warning, no exception is raised, so a caller cannot detect or guard against it.
Impact
On psd-tools 1.17.2 (latest), default usage, a 49-byte PSD makes `composite()` commit ~3 GB and return successfully (warning only); `.numpy()` reaches ~7.5 GB, and the per-layer rectangle is a second lever (up to ~32 GB), all from an input under 100 bytes (input-to-commit amplification over 1000×). Because the buffer is committed before validation and no exception is thrown, any service that composites untrusted PSDs is exposed to denial of service: on a host with less RAM than the attacker-declared geometry the allocation is an unrecoverable OOM-kill.
Steps to reproduce
```python
pip install psd-tools==1.17.2
from psd_tools import PSDImage
psd = PSDImage.open("psd-psdtools-grammar-d23.psd")
psd.composite() # commits ~3 GB from a 49-byte file and returns (warning only)
```
PoC (49 bytes), reconstruct with:
```sh
base64 -d > psd-psdtools-grammar-d23.psd <<'EOF'
OEJQUwABAAAAAAAAAAYAACg4AAAXTAAIAAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUNIUIFU+yQtDw==
EOF
```
Verify:
```
7d8ebf03a54393cb0359ecf4b676d1b08c9a8c6afdd06671ef406d6893cce826 psd-psdtools-grammar-d23.psd
```
Root cause
The composite/numpy buffer is sized from the declared image (and per-layer) dimensions and channel/depth without checking them against the available data length or a sane maximum.
Suggested fix
Validate the declared dimensions, channel count, and per-layer rectangles against the actual file length (and a configurable maximum pixel/byte budget) before allocating; raise an error on overflow instead of committing the buffer and returning a black image.
Related
Alias · CVE (1)
- CVE-2026-59991 psd-tools is a Python package for working with Adobe Photoshop PSD files. vulnerability
Weakness · CWE (1)
- CWE-789 Memory Allocation with Excessive Size Value weakness