lionsoul2014/ip2region · error · ValueError

invalid ip address `{}`

Error message

invalid ip address `{}`

What it means

util.parse_ip() converts an IP string to packed bytes using ipaddress.ip_address(). If parsing fails for any reason (malformed text, hostname, empty string), the bare except re-raises a uniform ValueError with the offending input.

Source

Thrown at binding/python/ip2region/util.py:69

}}'''.format(
        self.version, 
        self.indexPolicy, 
        self.createdAt, 
        self.startIndexPtr, 
        self.endIndexPtr, 
        self.ipVersion, 
        self.runtimePtrBytes
    )


# ---
# ip parse and convert functions

def parse_ip(ip_string: str):
    try:
        return ipaddress.ip_address(ip_string).packed
    except:
        raise ValueError("invalid ip address `{}`".format(ip_string))

def ip_to_string(ip_bytes: bytes):
    if isinstance(ip_bytes, bytes):
        return str(ipaddress.ip_address(ip_bytes))
    else:
        raise ValueError("invalid bytes ip `{}`".format(ip_bytes))

def ip_compare(ip1: bytes, ip2: bytes):
    if ip1 > ip2:
        return 1
    elif ip1 < ip2:
        return -1
    else:
        return 0

def ip_sub_compare(ip1: bytes, buff: bytes, offset: int):
    ip2 = buff[offset:offset+len(ip1)]
    if ip1 > ip2:

View on GitHub (pinned to c1a1fc7d59)

Solutions

  1. Validate/normalize the IP string before parsing (strip whitespace, strip brackets/port)
  2. Use a try/except around parse_ip and treat the input as non-IP (resolve hostname first if needed)
  3. Prefer ipaddress.ip_address directly in your own code to get Python's specific exceptions (ValueError) with clearer messages

Example fix

# before
ip_bytes = util.parse_ip(user_input.strip())  # could be 'example.com'
# after
import ipaddress
def safe_parse(s):
    try:
        return ipaddress.ip_address(s.strip('[] ')).packed
    except ValueError:
        return None
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

import ipaddress
def is_valid_ip(s: str) -> bool:
    try:
        ipaddress.ip_address(s.strip('[] '))
        return True
    except ValueError:
        return False

Type guard

def is_ip_string(s) -> bool:
    if not isinstance(s, str):
        return False
    try:
        ipaddress.ip_address(s.strip('[] '))
        return True
    except ValueError:
        return False

Try / catch

try:
    ip_bytes = util.parse_ip(raw)
except ValueError:
    ip_bytes = None  # treat as hostname/invalid input

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling parse_ip (directly or via search()) with a hostname, empty string, '1.2.3.256', '1.2.3', leading/trailing whitespace, or IPv6 with invalid syntax.

Common situations: User-supplied IP from a form/log that is actually a hostname or garbage; splitting 'ip:port' strings and passing the port along; regional formats or brackets like '[1.2.3.4]'.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of lionsoul2014/ip2region@c1a1fc7d59 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f0a93eb3b97fa49e. Report an issue: GitHub.