Answer in brief
CVE-2026-96642 records a High severity (CVSS 7.1) vulnerability in Pillow: TarIO negative size field causes infinite CPU-spin loop. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. The current feed maps python-pillow/Pillow (generic), Pillow (pip). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.
Analysis pending evidence review
HOL Guard separates source facts from reviewed analysis. See the methodology.
CVSS is 7.1. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. Treat this as a source-backed prioritization signal, not a statement about your environment.
Analysis status
Analysis pending evidence review
Factual feed record only; HOL analysis is not approved for indexing. Read the methodology.
The current feed maps python-pillow/Pillow (generic), Pillow (pip). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.
| Package | Affected range | Fixed version |
|---|---|---|
| python-pillow/Pillowgeneric | <13.0.0 | 13.0.0 |
| Pillowpip | <13.0.0 | 13.0.0 |
Published upstream
Oct 21, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:recordSource modified
Oct 22, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:recordFirst seen by HOL
Oct 21, 2026
Pillow is a Python imaging library. Prior to 13.0.0, the TarIO initializer in src/PIL/TarIO.py accepts a negative octal member size and computes a backward seek that returns to the same 512-byte header. When the requested member name does not match, the parser repeatedly reads that header, consumes a full CPU core, and never returns. TarIO is reached only when an application directly uses PIL.TarIO.TarIO rather than the default Image.open() path. This issue is fixed in version 13.0.0.
Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.