Low
osv
ยท
GHSA-2g6r-c272-w58r
LangChain affected by SSRF via image_url token counting in ChatOpenAI.get_num_tokens_from_messages
Published Feb 11, 2026
CVSS 3.1
## Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) in ChatOpenAI Image Token Counting
### Summary
The `ChatOpenAI.get_num_tokens_from_messages()` method fetches arbitrary `image_url` values without validation when computing token counts for vision-enabled models. This allows attackers to trigger Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) attacks by providing malicious image URLs in user input.
### Severity
**Low** - The vulnerability allows SSRF attacks but has limited impact due to:
- Responses are not returned to the attacker (blind SSRF)
- Default 5-second timeout limits resource exhaustion
- Non-image responses fail at PIL image parsing
### Impact
An attacker who can control image URLs passed to `get_num_tokens_from_messages()` can:
- Trigger HTTP requests from the application server to arbitrary internal or external URLs
- Cause the server to access internal network resources (private IPs, cloud metadata endpoints)
- Cause minor resource consumption through image downloads (bounded by timeout)
**Note:** This vulnerability occurs during token counting, which may happen outside of model invocation (e.g., in logging, metrics, or token budgeting flows).
### Details
The vulnerable code path:
1. `get_num_tokens_from_messages()` processes messages containing `image_url` content blocks
2. For images without `detail: "low"`, it calls `_url_to_size()` to fetch the image and compute token counts
3. `_url_to_size()` performs `httpx.get(image_source)` on any URL without validation
4. Prior to the patch, there was no SSRF protection, size limits, or explicit timeout
**File:** `libs/partners/openai/langchain_openai/chat_models/base.py`
### Patches
The vulnerability has been patched in `langchain-openai==1.1.9` (requires `langchain-core==1.2.11`).
The patch adds:
1. **SSRF validation** using `langchain_core._security._ssrf_protection.validate_safe_url()` to block:
- Private IP ranges (RFC 1918, loopback, link-local)
- Cloud metadata endpoints (169.254.169.254, etc.)
- Invalid URL schemes
2. **Explicit size limits** (50 MB maximum, matching OpenAI's payload limit)
3. **Explicit timeout** (5 seconds, same as `httpx.get` default)
4. **Allow disabling image fetching** via `allow_fetching_images=False` parameter
### Workarounds
If you cannot upgrade immediately:
1. **Sanitize input:** Validate and filter `image_url` values before passing messages to token counting or model invocation
2. **Use network controls:** Implement egress filtering to prevent outbound requests to private IPs
Affected AI Products
langchain-core