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gh-139478: Add warning about lack of validation for xml.sax.saxutils.XMLGenerator #139479

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gh-139478: Add warning about lack of validation for xml.sax.saxutils.XMLGenerator #139479

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d1e4e12
Add warning about lack of validation for `xml.sax.saxutils.XMLGenerator`
sethmlarson Oct 1, 2025
87080f7
Commit suggestion from code review
sethmlarson Oct 1, 2025
e845206
Commit suggestion from code review
sethmlarson Oct 1, 2025
4b4c15a
Move warning to be after description
sethmlarson Oct 1, 2025
cbe0c12
Change security warning to note about intended usage
sethmlarson Oct 1, 2025
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5 changes: 5 additions & 0 deletions Doc/library/xml.sax.utils.rst
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -71,6 +71,11 @@ or as base classes.
content: if ``False`` (the default) they are emitted as a pair of start/end
tags, if set to ``True`` they are emitted as a single self-closed tag.

.. note::
:class:`!XMLGenerator` is only intended to be used as a ``handler``
with SAX parser functions from the :mod:`!xml.sax` module. Using XMLGenerator
on untrusted user inputs is not the intended use.
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Suggested change
with SAX parser functions from the :mod:`!xml.sax` module. Using XMLGenerator
on untrusted user inputs is not the intended use.
with SAX parser functions from the :mod:`!xml.sax` module. Using
:class:`!XMLGenerator` on untrusted user inputs is not the intended use.

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"is only intended to be used": Ok, but what are the consequences if the class is misused? It's unclear to me what are the risks.

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In this form it simply reiterates what was said in the previous paragraph.

Even if this was not intended, people use XMLGenerator for generating XML. If it worked for them, it is fine. They should be aware about pitfalls. But I suggest adding such notes/warnings in other places that are used to generate XML first or simultaneously with XMLGenerator. They all should use unified wording. We can keep a short reminder that this is not intended use of XMLGenerator, the rest of the note should be similar to other notes.

I propose also to add helpers to validate names (#139489). Since this is a new feature, we cannot refer it the documentation changes that will be backported, but keep in mind that we can add references later.


.. versionchanged:: 3.2
Added the *short_empty_elements* parameter.

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2 changes: 2 additions & 0 deletions Misc/NEWS.d/next/Documentation/2025-10-01-10-06-52.gh-issue-139478.AdnsbB.rst
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@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
:mod:`xml.sax.saxutils`: Add warning about lack of
validation for :class:`~xml.sax.saxutils.XMLGenerator`.
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