sqlmapproject/sqlmap · error · SqlmapSyntaxException

unable to parse the OpenAPI/Swagger specification ('%s')

Error message

unable to parse the OpenAPI/Swagger specification ('%s')

What it means

Error "unable to parse the OpenAPI/Swagger specification ('%s')" thrown in sqlmapproject/sqlmap.

Source

Thrown at lib/core/option.py:539

            origin = match.group(1) if match else None
    else:
        conf.openApiFile = safeExpandUser(conf.openApiFile)
        checkFile(conf.openApiFile)
        infoMsg = "parsing OpenAPI/Swagger specification from '%s'" % conf.openApiFile
        logger.info(infoMsg)
        with openFile(conf.openApiFile) as f:
            content = f.read()

    tags = [_.strip() for _ in re.split(PARAMETER_SPLITTING_REGEX, conf.openApiTags) if _.strip()] if conf.openApiTags else None
    if tags:
        infoMsg = "restricting extraction to OpenAPI/Swagger operations tagged: %s" % ", ".join(tags)
        logger.info(infoMsg)

    try:
        targets = openApiTargets(content, origin, tags)
    except ValueError as ex:
        errMsg = "unable to parse the OpenAPI/Swagger specification ('%s')" % getSafeExString(ex)
        raise SqlmapSyntaxException(errMsg)

    if re.search(r"(?i)securitySchemes|securityDefinitions", content) and not any((conf.authType, conf.authCred, conf.authFile)) and not any((_[0] or "").lower() == HTTP_HEADER.AUTHORIZATION.lower() for _ in (conf.httpHeaders or [])):
        warnMsg = "the OpenAPI/Swagger specification declares authentication (security schemes) but no credentials were provided. "
        warnMsg += "If the API requires authentication, requests are likely to be rejected. Provide credentials with "
        warnMsg += "'--auth-type'/'--auth-cred' or a header (e.g. --headers=\"Authorization: Bearer ...\")"
        logger.warning(warnMsg)

    before = len(kb.targets)                               # openapi carries per-target bodies -> no conf.data fallback
    mutating = 0
    for url, method, data, headers in targets:
        if conf.scope and not re.search(conf.scope, url, re.I):
            continue
        if method not in ("GET", "HEAD", "OPTIONS"):
            mutating += 1
        kb.targets.add((url, method, data, conf.cookie, tuple(headers) if headers else None))

    added = len(kb.targets) - before
    if added:

View on GitHub (pinned to 0a35b20e39)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at lib/core/option.py:539 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

Understand the failure class

• Parsing and encoding errors: unexpected token, malformed input — why parsers reject input and how to find the real culprit.

AI-assisted analysis of sqlmapproject/sqlmap@0a35b20e39 (2026-08-26). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c187b678c92e75e8. Report an issue: GitHub.