GitHub Advisoryadvisory · PyPI

GHSA-ffj4-jq7m-9g6v GuardDog Zip Bomb Vulnerability in safe_extract() Allows DoS

HIGH Published 2026-01-13 Modified 2026-01-13 Official page ↗
Aliases
CVE-2026-22870
Ecosystem
PyPI
Packages
guarddog
Severity
High
CVSS vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Weaknesses
CWE-409
Reviewed
2026-01-13

Affected packages

• PyPI guarddog: < 2.7.1 → fixed in 2.7.1

Description

Summary GuardDog's `safe_extract()` function does not validate decompressed file sizes when extracting ZIP archives (wheels, eggs), allowing attackers to cause denial of service through zip bombs. A malicious package can consume gigabytes of disk space from a few megabytes of compressed data. Vulnerability Details Affected Component: `guarddog/utils/archives.py` - `safe_extract()` function Vulnerability Type: CWE-409 - Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Zip Bomb) Severity: HIGH (CVSS ~8) Attack Vector: Network (malicious package uploaded to PyPI/npm) or local Root Cause The `safe_extract()` function handles TAR files securely using the `tarsafe` library, but ZIP file extraction has no size validation: ```python elif zipfile.is_zipfile(source_archive): with zipfile.ZipFile(source_archive, "r") as zip: for file in zip.namelist(): zip.extract(file, path=os.path.join(target_directory, file)) ``` Missing protections: • ❌ No decompressed size limit • ❌ No compression ratio validation • ❌ No file count limits • ❌ No total extracted size validation Impact Denial of Service Scenarios 1. CI/CD Pipeline Disruption • Attacker publishes malicious package to PyPI • Developer adds package to requirements.txt • CI/CD runs GuardDog scan • Disk fills (GitHub Actions: standard 14GB limit) • All deployments blocked 2. Resource Exhaustion • Local development environments • Security scanning infrastructure • Automated scanning systems • Docker containers with limited disk 3. Supply Chain Attack Amplification • Single malicious package blocks security scanning • Prevents detection of other malicious packages • Forces manual intervention • Increases security team workload Recommended Fix Add size validation for ZIP files similar to what `tarsafe` provides for TAR files Configuration Options Make limits configurable via environment variables or config file Additional Improvements 1. Add warning logs when archives approach limits 2. Provide clear error messages for users 3. Document limits in user-facing documentation 4. Add tests for zip bomb detection 5. Consider using a safe ZIP library (similar to tarsafe) Credit Reported by: Charbel (dwbruijn)

Related

Alias · CVE (1)

  • CVE-2026-22870 GuardDog is a CLI tool to identify malicious PyPI packages. vulnerability

Weakness · CWE (1)

  • CWE-409 Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification) weakness

References