JupyterLab has an Extension Manager API/GUI Policy Discrepancy, allowing 3rd party (malicious) extensions install via POST request

The allow-list of extensions that can be installed from PyPI Extension Manager (`allowed_extensions_uris`) is not correctly enforced by JupyterLab prior to 4.5.7. The PyPI Extension Manager was not contained to packages listed on the default PyPI index. This has security implications for deployments that: - have allow-listed specific extensions with aim to prevent users from installing packages - have the kernel and terminals disabled or delegated to remote hosts (thus no access to install packages in the single-user server environment) - have multi-tenant deployments that is not configured for untrusted users (as per documented on JupyterHub https://jupyterhub.readthedocs.io/en/5.2.1/explanation/websecurity.html) - have the (default) PyPI Extension Manager enabled ### Impact An authenticated attacker - such as a student in a shared JupyterHub environment or a user in a multi-tenant JupyterLab deployment - can escalate their privileges. This might allow for data exfiltration, lateral movement within the network, and persistent compromise of the server infrastructure. ### Patches JupyterLab [`v4.5.7`](https://github.com/jupyterlab/jupyterlab/releases/tag/v4.5.7) contains the patch. Users of applications that depend on JupyterLab, such as Notebook v7+, should update `jupyterlab` package too. ### Workarounds Switch to read-only extension manager by adding the following command line option: ```bash --LabApp.extension_manager=readonly ``` or the following traitlet: ```python c.LabApp.extension_manager = 'readonly' ``` You can confirm that the read-only manager is in use from GUI: <img width="293" height="293" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/8016c809-633e-4ed0-a5bc-6bc4793caa0f" /> Note: configuration of a PyPI proxy with allow-listed packages is not sufficient to protect from this vulnerability. ### References - allow-list https://jupyterlab.readthedocs.io/en/stable/user/extensions.html#listing-configuration - https://jupyterhub.readthedocs.io/en/5.2.1/explanation/websecurity.html - https://jupyterlab.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/extensions.html#extension-manager-implementations