JupyterLab: PyPI extension blocklist package-name canonicalization bypass

JupyterLab's PyPI extension manager enforces blocked_extensions_uris by comparing the requested install name to blocklist entries with a custom string normalization that is weaker than PyPI package-name canonicalization. An authenticated user can request a PyPI-equivalent spelling such as JupyterLab.Git for a blocklisted package such as jupyterlab-git; JupyterLab accepts the install request even though pip resolves the variant to the same package.

This has security implications only for deployments that combine all of the following:

• an allowlist/blocklist configured with the intent of restricting which packages users can install;
• the (default) PyPI Extension Manager enabled; and
• kernels and terminals disabled or delegated to remote hosts (otherwise a user with kernel access can install packages directly regardless of this check)

Impact

The vulnerability lets an authenticated user install a package the operator specifically intended to block, defeating the allowlist/blocklist control. Because extensions in principle allow for arbitrary code execution, this vulnerability enables untrusted users to impact the integrity and availability of the jupyter-server instance that was provisioned to them. The user already has access to their own single-user server's data, so installing an extension grants no new read access.

In particular, the integrity of data can be impacted, and any hardening or restrictions on permitted user actions (download/upload limits) within the single-user server can be circumvented. Availability impact on a JupyterHub deployment is limited: while a user can be expected to exhaust their own kernel pod's resources, this vulnerability makes it easier to also exhaust the single-user server resources or generate more requests to shared resources; where limits are absent, resource exhaustion could potentially degrade the wider deployment.

Patches

JupyterLab v4.6.2 and v4.5.10 contain the patch.

Users of applications that depend on JupyterLab, such as Notebook v7+, should update jupyterlab package too.

Workarounds

No action is required for deployments that do not have a custom allow/block list configured. Deployments wanting to disable programmatic extension installation entirely can switch to the read-only extension manager:

--LabApp.extension_manager=readonly

or the following traitlet:

c.LabApp.extension_manager = 'readonly'

You can confirm that the read-only manager is in use from GUI: