What is GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG?

GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG is a medium-severity uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in credsweeper (pip), affecting versions >= 1.4.9, < 1.16.0. It is fixed in 1.16.0. Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service.

How severe is GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG?

GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG has a CVSS score of 5.5 (Medium). 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.

Which versions of credsweeper are affected by GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG?

credsweeper (pip) versions >= 1.4.9, < 1.16.0 is affected.

Is there a fix for GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG?

Yes. GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG is fixed in 1.16.0. Upgrade to this version or later.

Is GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG exploitable, and should I be worried?

Whether GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG 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.

What actually determines whether GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG 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.

GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG in credsweeper

Q: How severe is GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG?

GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG has a CVSS score of 5.5 (Medium). 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.

Q: Which versions of credsweeper are affected by GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG?

credsweeper (pip) versions >= 1.4.9, < 1.16.0 is affected.

Q: Is there a fix for GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG?

Yes. GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG is fixed in 1.16.0. Upgrade to this version or later.

Q: Is GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG exploitable, and should I be worried?

Whether GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG 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.

Q: What actually determines whether GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG 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.

Q: How do I fix GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG?

Upgrade credsweeper to 1.16.0 or later.

Summary

CredSweeper: Recursive archive size-limit bypass in deep scanner allows crafted compressed inputs to exhaust resources

Impact

This is an availability / resource-exhaustion vulnerability.

Who is impacted:

Users who run CredSweeper with deep scanning enabled (--depth > 0) on untrusted repositories, archives, or binary inputs.
CI jobs, pre-merge checks, internal security automation, and local review workflows that recursively inspect attacker-controlled compressed files.
Downstream services that expose CredSweeper as part of automated scanning of uploaded or fetched content.

Practical consequences:

Oversized decompressed content can be materialized and scanned even when it exceeds the configured recursive budget.
Archive inputs with many individually small members can exceed the configured budget in aggregate.
Jobs may hang, consume excessive memory/CPU, or be terminated by the operating system / CI platform.

Security classification:

Primary weakness: CWE-409: Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification)
Related weakness: CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption

I did not confirm confidentiality or integrity impact from this issue. The impact I confirmed is denial of service / resource exhaustion.

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

GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG has a CVSS score of 5.5 (Medium). The vector is requires local access, no privileges required, and user interaction required. 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 (1.16.0); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Affected versions

credsweeper (>= 1.4.9, < 1.16.0)

Security releases

credsweeper → 1.16.0 (pip)

Kodem intelligence

Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.

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. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.

Already deployed Kodem?

See it in your environment New to Kodem? Get a demo →

Remediation advice

Upgrade credsweeper to 1.16.0 or later to resolve this vulnerability.

Kodem Kai can prioritize this vulnerability in your dependency tree and generate a fix recommendation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG? GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG is a medium-severity uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in credsweeper (pip), affecting versions >= 1.4.9, < 1.16.0. It is fixed in 1.16.0. Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service.
How severe is GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG? GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG has a CVSS score of 5.5 (Medium). 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.
Which versions of credsweeper are affected by GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG? credsweeper (pip) versions >= 1.4.9, < 1.16.0 is affected.
Is there a fix for GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG? Yes. GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG is fixed in 1.16.0. Upgrade to this version or later.
Is GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG 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
What actually determines whether GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG 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.
How do I fix GHSA-9MQM-QCWF-5QHG? Upgrade credsweeper to 1.16.0 or later.