CVE-2023-45805
Publication date 20 October 2023
Last updated 11 July 2025
Ubuntu priority
Cvss 3 Severity Score
Description
pdm is a Python package and dependency manager supporting the latest PEP standards. It's possible to craft a malicious `pdm.lock` file that could allow e.g. an insider or a malicious open source project to appear to depend on a trusted PyPI project, but actually install another project. A project `foo` can be targeted by creating the project `foo-2` and uploading the file `foo-2-2.tar.gz` to pypi.org. PyPI will see this as project `foo-2` version `2`, while PDM will see this as project `foo` version `2-2`. The version must only be `parseable as a version` and the filename must be a prefix of the project name, but it's not verified to match the version being installed. Version `2-2` is also not a valid normalized version per PEP 440. Matching the project name exactly (not just prefix) would fix the issue. When installing dependencies with PDM, what's actually installed could differ from what's listed in `pyproject.toml` (including arbitrary code execution on install). It could also be used for downgrade attacks by only changing the version. This issue has been addressed in commit `6853e2642df` which is included in release version `2.9.4`. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
Status
| Package | Ubuntu Release | Status |
|---|---|---|
| pdm | 26.04 LTS resolute |
Needs evaluation
|
| 25.10 questing |
Needs evaluation
|
|
| 24.04 LTS noble | Not in release | |
| 22.04 LTS jammy | Not in release | |
| 20.04 LTS focal | Not in release | |
| 18.04 LTS bionic | Ignored end of standard support | |
| 16.04 LTS xenial | Ignored end of standard support | |
| 14.04 LTS trusty | Ignored end of standard support |
Severity score breakdown
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Base score |
|
| Attack vector | Local |
| Attack complexity | Low |
| Privileges required | None |
| User interaction | Required |
| Scope | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | High |
| Integrity impact | High |
| Availability impact | High |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
References
Other references
- https://github.com/pdm-project/pdm/security/advisories/GHSA-j44v-mmf2-xvm9
- https://github.com/pdm-project/pdm/commit/6853e2642dfa281d4a9958fbc6c95b7e32d84831
- https://github.com/frostming/unearth/blob/eca170d9370ac5032f2e497ee9b1b63823d3fe0f/src/unearth/evaluator.py#L215-L229
- https://github.com/pdm-project/pdm/blob/45d1dfa47d4900c14a31b9bb761e4c46eb5c9442/src/pdm/models/candidates.py#L98-L99
- https://peps.python.org/pep-0440/#post-release-spelling
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-45805