CVE-2026-71491
Quadratic CPU exhaustion DoS in sqlparse <0.6.0 via comment-only SQL parsing
Is CVE-2026-71491 being exploited?
Not confirmed. CVE-2026-71491 does not appear in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which records only exploitation that has been observed and reported publicly. That is evidence of absence of a report, not evidence the flaw is unattacked. EPSS currently estimates a 0.26% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
How severe is CVE-2026-71491?
CVE-2026-71491 is rated High with a CVSS score of 8.7. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.
Is there a patch for CVE-2026-71491?
Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2026-71491. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.
What does CVE-2026-71491 affect?
CVE-2026-71491 affects sqlparse < 0.6.0, Python applications using sqlparse.parse(), Python apps using sqlparse.format(..., strip_comments=True). Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
What should I do about CVE-2026-71491?
Upgrade to sqlparse >=0.6.0; validate/block untrusted SQL and rate-limit parsing.
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
An attacker can cause high CPU usage and Denial of Service by sending comment-only SQL to sqlparse.parse() or sqlparse.format(..., strip_comments=True).
Immediate action required
- affected< 0.6.0
As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.