HighFix available
python2, python3 — security advisory
Python's elementtree C accelerator failed to initialise Expat's hash salt during initialization. This could make it easy to conduct denial of service attacks against Expat by constructing an XML document that would cause pathological hash collisions in Expat's internal data structures, consuming large amounts CPU and RAM. The vulnerability exists in Python versions 3.7.0, 3.6.0 through 3.6.6, 3.5.0 through 3.5.6, 3.4.0 through 3.4.9, 2.7.0 through 2.7.15.
- Products
- python2, python3
- Affected versions
- Not specified
- Fixed versions
- 2.7.15-r2, 2.7.16-r0, 3.6.8-r0
- CVEs
- CVE-2018-14647
- Confirmed fixed CVEs
- Not specified
- Updated in this feed
- 31 Oct 2026, 22:09 UTC · Revision 1
Source evidence
Python's elementtree C accelerator failed to initialise Expat's hash salt during initialization. This could make it easy to conduct denial of service attacks against Expat by constructing an XML document that would cause pathological hash collisions in Expat's internal data structures, consuming large amounts CPU and RAM. The vulnerability exists in Python versions 3.7.0, 3.6.0 through 3.6.6, 3.5.0 through 3.5.6, 3.4.0 through 3.4.9, 2.7.0 through 2.7.15.
osv:ALPINE-CVE-2018-14647
python2
Fixed versions: 2.7.16-r0
python2
Fixed versions: 2.7.16-r0
python2
Fixed versions: 2.7.16-r0
python2
Fixed versions: 2.7.15-r2
python2
Fixed versions: 2.7.15-r2
python2
Fixed versions: 2.7.16-r0
python3
Fixed versions: 3.6.8-r0
python3
Fixed versions: 3.6.8-r0
python3
Fixed versions: 3.6.8-r0
Complete source record
{
"id": "3930374f920f287937766137c3beeaf05017ae1e839efb36c21f6a714a90406a",
"url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/ALPINE-CVE-2018-14647",
"method": "structured",
"payload": {
"kind": "advisory",
"title": "ALPINE-CVE-2018-14647",
"summary": "Python's elementtree C accelerator failed to initialise Expat's hash salt during initialization. This could make it easy to conduct denial of service attacks against Expat by constructing an XML document that would cause pathological hash collisions in Expat's internal data structures, consuming large amounts CPU and RAM. The vulnerability exists in Python versions 3.7.0, 3.6.0 through 3.6.6, 3.5.0 through 3.5.6, 3.4.0 through 3.4.9, 2.7.0 through 2.7.15.",
"evidence": "osv:ALPINE-CVE-2018-14647",
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{
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"severity": "high",
"structured": {
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"aliases": [
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],
"metrics": [
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"type": "CVSS_V3",
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
}
],
"affected": [
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"package": {
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"purl": "pkg:apk/alpine/python2?arch=source",
"ecosystem": "Alpine:v3.10"
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"database_specific": {
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],
"modified": "2026-10-23T17:23:35.456025720Z",
"provider": "osv",
"upstream": [
"CVE-2018-14647"
],
"references": [
"https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2018-14647"
]
},
"related_cves": [
{
"value": "CVE-2018-14647",
"evidence": "/upstream"
}
],
"security_relevant": true,
"severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
},
"source_id": "core-osv",
"document_id": 415715,
"published_at": "2018-09-25T00:29:00.703+00:00"
}