CVE-2024-6232 | Regular-expression DoS when parsing TarFile headers

Exp

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.

Published: 2024-09-03 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2024-6232 is rated High Exploit Risk (72.2/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.20%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2024-6232

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2024-6232

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 3.01% 2.20% -0.81%
2 2026-05-22 4.02% 3.01% -1.01%
3 2026-05-10 — 4.02% —

Full EPSS history (58 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2024-6232

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 3.6 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2024-6232

OS Trackers for CVE-2024-6232

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2024-6232: 1 source package rows (python3); 7 state rows across 7 repos (3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 7, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2024-6232
debian not yet assigned CVE-2024-6232 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 5 source packages (pypy3, python2.7, python3.11, python3.13, python3.9), 11 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 9, open 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2024-6232
gentoo high CVE-2024-6232: 1 GLSA(s) (202506-07), 2 atom(s) (dev-lang/pypy, dev-lang/python); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2024-6232
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-6232
suse high CVE-2024-6232 severity important: SUSE including 612 source package names (0.0.17-1.1:libpython3_11-1_0-3.11.10-150600.3.6.1, 0.0.17-1.1:libpython3_6m1_0-3.6.15-150300.10.72.1, …), 2676 product×package rows across 401 product lines (Container bci/bci-sle15-kernel-module-devel, Container bci/kiwi, … (401 product lines)): Fixed 2307, Known Affected 221, Will Not Fix 148. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-6232/
ubuntu medium CVE-2024-6232 medium priority: Ubuntu including 11 source packages (python2.7, python3.10, …), 110 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 84, released 21, not-affected 5. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2024-6232

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-6232

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
python python < 3.8.20 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python >= 3.9.0, < 3.9.20 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python >= 3.10.0, < 3.10.15 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python >= 3.11.0, < 3.11.10 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python >= 3.12.0, < 3.12.6 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python 3.13.0 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:3.13.0:alpha0:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python 3.13.0 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:3.13.0:alpha1:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python 3.13.0 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:3.13.0:alpha2:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python 3.13.0 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:3.13.0:alpha3:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python 3.13.0 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:3.13.0:alpha4:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python 3.13.0 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:3.13.0:alpha5:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python 3.13.0 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:3.13.0:alpha6:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python 3.13.0 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:3.13.0:beta1:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python 3.13.0 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:3.13.0:beta2:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python 3.13.0 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:3.13.0:beta3:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python 3.13.0 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:3.13.0:beta4:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python 3.13.0 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:3.13.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2024-6232

URL Tags
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/34ddb64d088dd7ccc321f6103d23153256caa5d4 Patch
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/4eaf4891c12589e3c7bdad5f5b076e4c8392dd06 Patch
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/743acbe872485dc18df4d8ab2dc7895187f062c4 Patch
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/7d1f50cd92ff7e10a1c15a8f591dde8a6843a64d Patch
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/b4225ca91547aa97ed3aca391614afbb255bc877 Patch
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/d449caf8a179e3b954268b3a88eb9170be3c8fbf Patch
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/ed3a49ea734ada357ff4442996fd4ae71d253373 Patch
https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/121285 Exploit Issue Tracking Patch
https://github.com/python/cpython/pull/121286 Issue Tracking Patch
https://mail.python.org/archives/list/[email protected]/thread/JRYFTPRHZRTLMZLWQEUHZSJXNHM4ACTY/ Vendor Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2024/09/03/5 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2024/12/msg00000.html
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20241018-0007/ Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence