python / python/cpython

`zlib.Decompress.flush()` silently returns corrupted output instead of raising `zlib.error`

Open
#156,173 0 comments 0 reactions 1 assignee View on GitHub

@StanFromIreland is already working on this.

Since Aug 21, 2026.

extension-modules type-bug
Dominant language
Python
Stars
77.2k
Forks
35.9k
PR merge metrics
PR metrics pending

Description

Bug report

Bug description:

zlib.Decompress.flush() discards errors returned by inflate(), so corrupt data comes back truncated and garbled with no exception, while decompress() reports this correctly.

>>> import zlib
>>> data = zlib.compress(b'abcdefgh' * 200, 9)
>>> corrupt = data[:15] + bytes(60)  # Corrupt the valid stream
>>> d = zlib.decompressobj()
>>> d.decompress(corrupt)  # decompress errors correctly
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<python-input-4>", line 1, in <module>
    d.decompress(corrupt)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^
zlib.error: Error -3 while decompressing data: incorrect data check
>>> d = zlib.decompressobj()
>>> d.decompress(corrupt, 1)  # leaving rest uncomsumed
b'a'
>>> d.flush()  # no flush, corrupted output
b'bcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdefghabcdeP'
CPython versions tested on:

CPython main branch

Operating systems tested on:

No response

Linked PRs
  • gh-156176
  • gh-156270
  • gh-156271
  • gh-156272

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Assessment

This issue has not been assessed yet.

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.