How to Remove Invalid File Uploads in Python

Invalid file uploads pose a threat to our system in more ways than one. If a file’s contents don’t match its extension, there’s a possibility that it contains malware or other threats, which means we need to delete that file from our upload workflow right away.

To accomplish that, the first step is detecting invalid files in the first place — and the free-to-use API provided below makes that easy. In the request body, you can set the allowInvalidFiles Boolean to “False” and immediately stop files with invalid contents from moving forward in your file upload process. As the name of this API suggests, your files will also undergo an extensive virus and malware scan, with coverage including ransomware, spyware, trojans, and much more.

To install the Python SDK, run the following command using pip install:

pip install cloudmersive-virus-api-client

With installation complete, you can now structure your API call with the ready-to-run code examples below:

from __future__ import print_function
import time
import cloudmersive_virus_api_client
from cloudmersive_virus_api_client.rest import ApiException
from pprint import pprint

# Configure API key authorization: Apikey
configuration = cloudmersive_virus_api_client.Configuration()
configuration.api_key['Apikey'] = 'YOUR_API_KEY'



# create an instance of the API class
api_instance = cloudmersive_virus_api_client.ScanApi(cloudmersive_virus_api_client.ApiClient(configuration))
input_file = '/path/to/inputfile' # file | Input file to perform the operation on.
allow_executables = true # bool | Set to false to block executable files (program code) from being allowed in the input file.  Default is false (recommended). (optional)
allow_invalid_files = true # bool | Set to false to block invalid files, such as a PDF file that is not really a valid PDF file, or a Word Document that is not a valid Word Document.  Default is false (recommended). (optional)
allow_scripts = true # bool | Set to false to block script files, such as a PHP files, Python scripts, and other malicious content or security threats that can be embedded in the file.  Set to true to allow these file types.  Default is false (recommended). (optional)
allow_password_protected_files = true # bool | Set to false to block password protected and encrypted files, such as encrypted zip and rar files, and other files that seek to circumvent scanning through passwords.  Set to true to allow these file types.  Default is false (recommended). (optional)
allow_macros = true # bool | Set to false to block macros and other threats embedded in document files, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint embedded Macros, and other files that contain embedded content threats.  Set to true to allow these file types.  Default is false (recommended). (optional)
allow_xml_external_entities = true # bool | Set to false to block XML External Entities and other threats embedded in XML files, and other files that contain embedded content threats.  Set to true to allow these file types.  Default is false (recommended). (optional)
allow_insecure_deserialization = true # bool | Set to false to block Insecure Deserialization and other threats embedded in JSON and other object serialization files, and other files that contain embedded content threats.  Set to true to allow these file types.  Default is false (recommended). (optional)
allow_html = true # bool | Set to false to block HTML input in the top level file; HTML can contain XSS, scripts, local file accesses and other threats.  Set to true to allow these file types.  Default is false (recommended) [for API keys created prior to the release of this feature default is true for backward compatability]. (optional)
restrict_file_types = 'restrict_file_types_example' # str | Specify a restricted set of file formats to allow as clean as a comma-separated list of file formats, such as .pdf,.docx,.png would allow only PDF, PNG and Word document files.  All files must pass content verification against this list of file formats, if they do not, then the result will be returned as CleanResult=false.  Set restrictFileTypes parameter to null or empty string to disable; default is disabled. (optional)

try:
    # Advanced Scan a file for viruses
    api_response = api_instance.scan_file_advanced(input_file, allow_executables=allow_executables, allow_invalid_files=allow_invalid_files, allow_scripts=allow_scripts, allow_password_protected_files=allow_password_protected_files, allow_macros=allow_macros, allow_xml_external_entities=allow_xml_external_entities, allow_insecure_deserialization=allow_insecure_deserialization, allow_html=allow_html, restrict_file_types=restrict_file_types)
    pprint(api_response)
except ApiException as e:
    print("Exception when calling ScanApi->scan_file_advanced: %s\n" % e)

That’s all there is to it — no more code required. To authenticate your request, provide a free-tier API key (this can be obtained on the Cloudmersive website with no commitments).