CVE-2024-3220
There is a defect in the CPython standard library module “mimetypes” where on Windows the default list of known file locations are writable meaning other users can create invalid files to cause MemoryError to be raised on Python runtime startup or have file extensions be interpreted as the incorrect file type. This defect is caused by the default locations of Linux and macOS platforms (such as “/etc/mime.types”) also being used on Windows, where they are user-writable locations (“C:\etc\mime.types”). To work-around this issue a user can call mimetypes.init() with an empty list (“[]”) on Windows platforms to avoid using the default list of known file locations.
Published:Feb 14, 2025
Last Modified:Apr 15, 2026
EPS:Feb 14, 2025
EPSS Score:0.00288
CVSS Score:4.6
Affected Products
Vendor
Product
Action
Vendor
Python
Product
Cpython
Python
Cpython
Exploits
No exploit reference
Common Weakness Enumeration
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
Related CVEs
Common Vulnerability Scoring System
Attack Vector
Network
Adjacent
Local
Physical
Privileges Required
None
Low
High
User Interaction
None
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Low
High
Integrity
None
Low
High
Availability
None
Low
High
