Infinite.zip -

Systems should be configured to reject archives where the ratio of compressed-to-uncompressed size is suspiciously high.

Here is a deep report on its mechanics, purpose, and mitigation: 1. What is it? Infinite.zip

It relies on recursive compression —layers upon layers of nested ZIP files. A single file might contain 100 zip files, each containing 100 more, and so on. 2. How it Works (The Mechanics) Systems should be configured to reject archives where

A tiny compressed file (often only a few kilobytes or megabytes in size) that expands into a gargantuan amount of data (petabytes, exabytes, or "infinite" space) upon extraction. It relies on recursive compression —layers upon layers

"Infinite.zip"—often referred to in technical circles as a type of or decompression bomb (such as the famous 42.zip )—is a maliciously crafted archive file designed to crash, freeze, or overwhelm the storage capacity of any system that attempts to unpack it.

The ZIP algorithm can compress repetitive data (like a file filled entirely with zeros) extremely efficiently. A 10 GB file of zeros can be compressed into a few megabytes.