{"id":"CVE-2023-34457","aliases":["GHSA-x456-3ccm-m6j4","PYSEC-2023-108"],"title":"MechanicalSoup vulnerable to malicious web server reading arbitrary files on client using file input inside HTML form","summary":"MechanicalSoup vulnerable to malicious web server reading arbitrary files on client using file input inside HTML form","severity":"medium","cvss":5.9,"cvssVector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N","vendor":"mechanicalsoup","product":"mechanicalsoup","ecosystem":"pip","affected":["mechanicalsoup >= 0.2.0, < 1.3.0"],"patched":["mechanicalsoup 1.3.0"],"published":"2023-07-05","updated":"2026-09-10","sourceUpdated":"2026-09-10T03:49:57.413581751Z","source":"OSV","sourceUrl":"https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-x456-3ccm-m6j4","references":[{"url":"https://github.com/MechanicalSoup/MechanicalSoup/security/advisories/GHSA-x456-3ccm-m6j4"},{"url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-34457"},{"url":"https://github.com/MechanicalSoup/MechanicalSoup/commit/d57c4a269bba3b9a0c5bfa20292955b849006d9e"},{"url":"https://github.com/MechanicalSoup/MechanicalSoup"},{"url":"https://github.com/MechanicalSoup/MechanicalSoup/releases/tag/v1.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/mechanicalsoup/PYSEC-2023-108.yaml"}],"tags":["osv","pip"],"epss":0.01082,"epssPercentile":0.63719,"ingestedAt":"2026-09-12T03:13:01.738Z","slug":"CVE-2023-34457","body":"## Overview\n\n### Summary\nA malicious web server can read arbitrary files on the client using a `` inside HTML form.\n\n### Details\nThis affects the extremely common pattern of form submission:\n\n```python\nb = mechanicalsoup.StatefulBrowser()\nb.select_form(...)\nb.submit_selected()\n```\n\nThe problem is with the code in `browser.Browser.get_request_kwargs`:\n\n```python\n if tag.get(\"type\", \"\").lower() == \"file\" and multipart:\n filepath = value\n if filepath != \"\" and isinstance(filepath, str):\n content = open(filepath, \"rb\")\n else:\n content = \"\"\n filename = os.path.basename(filepath)\n # If value is the empty string, we still pass it\n # for consistency with browsers (see\n # https://github.com/MechanicalSoup/MechanicalSoup/issues/250).\n files[name] = (filename, content)\n```\n\nThe file path is taken from the bs4 tag \"value\" attribute. However, this path will default to whatever the server sends. So if a malicious web server were to send something like:\n\n```html\n\n
\n \n \n
\n\n```\n\nthen upon `.submit_selected()` the mechanicalsoup browser will happily send over the contents of your SSH private key.\n\n### PoC\n\n```python\nimport attr\nimport mechanicalsoup\nimport requests\n\n\nclass NevermindError(Exception):\n pass\n\n\n@attr.s\nclass FakeSession:\n session = attr.ib()\n\n headers = property(lambda self: self.session.headers)\n\n def request(self, *args, **kwargs):\n print(\"requested\", args, kwargs)\n raise NevermindError # don't actually send request\n\n\ndef demonstrate(inputs=None):\n b = mechanicalsoup.StatefulBrowser(FakeSession(requests.Session()))\n b.open_fake_page(\"\"\"\\\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n\n\"\"\", url=\"http://127.0.0.1:9/\")\n b.select_form()\n if inputs is not None:\n b.form.set_input(inputs)\n try:\n b.submit_selected()\n except NevermindError:\n pass\n\n# %%\n\n# unpatched\ndemonstrate()\n# OUTPUT: requested () {'method': 'post', 'url': 'http://127.0.0.1:9/', 'files': {'evil': ('passwd', <_io.BufferedReader name='/etc/passwd'>), 'second': ('', '')}, 'headers': {'Referer': 'http://127.0.0.1:9/'}, 'data': [('greeting', 'hello')]}\n\n# %%\n\n# with the patch, this now works. users MUST open the file manually and\n# use browser.set_input() using the file object.\ndemonstrate({\"greeting\": \"hiya\", \"evil\": open(\"/etc/hostname\", \"rb\").name, \"second\": open(\"/dev/null\", \"rb\")})\n# OUTPUT: requested () {'method': 'post', 'url': 'http://127.0.0.1:9/', 'files': {'evil': ('hostname', <_io.BufferedReader name='/etc/hostname'>), 'second': ('null', <_io.BufferedReader name='/dev/null'>)}, 'headers': {'Referer': 'http://127.0.0.1:9/'}, 'data': [('greeting', 'hiya')]}\n\n# %%\n\n# with the patch, this raises a ValueError with a helpful string\ndemonstrate({\"evil\": \"/etc/hostname\"})\n\n# %%\n\n# with the patch, we silently send no file if a malicious server tries the attack:\ndemonstrate()\n```\n\n### Suggested patch\n\n```diff\ndiff --git a/mechanicalsoup/browser.py b/mechanicalsoup/browser.py\nindex 285f8bb..68bc65e 100644\n--- a/mechanicalsoup/browser.py\n+++ b/mechanicalsoup/browser.py\n@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@\n+import io\n import os\n import tempfile\n import urllib\n import weakref\n import webbrowser\n \n import bs4\n@@ -227,15 +228,21 @@ class Browser:\n value = tag.get(\"value\", \"\")\n \n # If the enctype is not multipart, the filename is put in\n # the form as a text input and the file is not sent.\n if tag.get(\"type\", \"\").lower() == \"file\" and multipart:\n filepath = value\n if filepath != \"\" and isinstance(filepath, str):\n- content = open(filepath, \"rb\")\n+ content = getattr(tag, \"_mechanicalsoup_file\", None)\n+ if content is False:\n+ raise ValueError(\n+ \"\"\"From v1.3.0 onwards, you must pass an open file object directly, for example using `form.set_input({\"name\": open(\"/path/to/filename\", \"rb\")})`. This change is to mitigate a security vulnerability where a malicious web server could read arbitrary files from the client.\"\"\"\n+ )\n+ elif not isinstance(content, io.IOBase):\n+ content = \"\"\n else:\n content = \"\"\n filename = os.path.basename(filepath)\n # If value is the empty string, we still pass it\n # for consistency with browsers (see\n # https://github.com/MechanicalSoup/MechanicalSoup/issues/250).\n files[name] = (filename, content)\ndiff --git a/mechanicalsoup/form.py b/mechanicalsoup/form.py\nindex a67195c..82f6015 100644\n--- a/mechanicalsoup/form.py\n+++ b/mechanicalsoup/form.py\n@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@\n import copy\n+import io\n import warnings\n \n from bs4 import BeautifulSoup\n \n from .utils import LinkNotFoundError\n \n \n@@ -64,15 +65,24 @@ class Form:\n give it the value ``password``.\n \"\"\"\n \n for (name, value) in data.items():\n i = self.form.find(\"input\", {\"name\": name})\n if not i:\n raise InvalidFormMethod(\"No input field named \" + name)\n- i[\"value\"] = value\n+\n+ if isinstance(value, io.IOBase):\n+ # Store the actual file object for \n+ i._mechanicalsoup_file = value\n+ i[\"value\"] = value.name\n+ else:\n+ # We set `_mechanicalsoup_file` to `False` so that we can\n+ # check for deprecated use of the API.\n+ i._mechanicalsoup_file = False\n+ i[\"value\"] = value\n \n def uncheck_all(self, name):\n \"\"\"Remove the *checked*-attribute of all input elements with\n a *name*-attribute given by ``name``.\n \"\"\"\n for option in self.form.find_all(\"input\", {\"name\": name}):\n if \"checked\" in option.attrs:\n@@ -257,20 +267,20 @@ class Form:\n .. code-block:: python\n \n form.set(\"login\", username)\n form.set(\"password\", password)\n form.set(\"eula-checkbox\", True)\n \n Example: uploading a file through a ```` field (provide the path to the local file,\n+ name=\"tagname\">`` field (provide an open file object,\n and its content will be uploaded):\n \n .. code-block:: python\n \n- form.set(\"tagname\", path_to_local_file)\n+ form.set(\"tagname\", open(path_to_local_file, \"rb\"))\n \n \"\"\"\n for func in (\"checkbox\", \"radio\", \"input\", \"textarea\", \"select\"):\n try:\n getattr(self, \"set_\" + func)({name: value})\n return\n except InvalidFormMethod:\n```\n\n### Impact\n\nAll users of MechanicalSoup's form submission are affected, unless they took very specific (and manual) steps to reset HTML form field values.\n\n## Affected packages\n\n- `mechanicalsoup >= 0.2.0, < 1.3.0`\n\n## Remediation\n\nUpgrade to a patched release:\n\n- `mechanicalsoup 1.3.0`","depth":"sunlit","depthScore":33,"depthScoreParts":{"impact":32.5,"likelihood":0.2,"exploitation":0,"ransomware":0},"changes":[]}