jackson-core: Number length constraint bypass in non-blocking (async) JSON parser leads to potential denial of service
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- None
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · Low
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 21 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-770.
Summary
The non-blocking (asynchronous) JSON parser in jackson-core does not enforce the maxNumberLength constraint defined in StreamReadConstraints (default: 1000 characters). An attacker able to submit JSON to an application that uses the async parser API can supply a number token of arbitrary length, leading to excessive memory allocation and potential CPU exhaustion, resulting in a denial of service. The synchronous parser enforces this limit correctly, so the constraint is applied inconsistently depending on which parsing API the application uses. Root cause: the async parsing path in NonBlockingUtf8JsonParserBase and related classes never invokes the number length validation methods. Number parsing methods such as _finishNumberIntegralPart() accumulate digits into the TextBuffer without any length check, then call _valueComplete() to finalize the token. _valueComplete() does not call resetInt() or resetFloat(), which are the methods in ParserBase where validateIntegerLength() and validateFPLength() are performed. Because that validation step is skipped, maxNumberLength is never enforced on the async code path. Impact: an attacker sending a JSON document containing an arbitrarily long number to an application using the async parser (for example a Spring WebFlux or other reactive application) can cause unbounded allocation in the TextBuffer and an OutOfMemoryError. If the application subsequently calls getBigIntegerValue() or getDecimalValue(), the JVM may additionally be tied up in O(n^2) BigInteger parsing, causing CPU-based denial of service. No privileges or user interaction beyond the ability to submit data for parsing are required. This issue affects com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-core from version 2.15.0 through 2.18.5 and from 2.19.0 through 2.21.0, and tools.jackson.core:jackson-core from 3.0.0 through 3.0.x. Versions prior to 2.15.0 are not affected, because StreamReadConstraints -- which defines the maxNumberLength setting -- was first introduced in jackson-core 2.15.0, so no such constraint exists to be bypassed in earlier releases. Note that GHSA-72hv-8253-57qq records the lower bound of the affected 2.x range as 2.0.0.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FasterXML | jackson-core | 2.15.0 – 2.18.5; 2.19.0 to before 2.21.1 | 2.18.6, 2.21.1 | Patch available | CNA |
| FasterXML | jackson-core | 3.0.0 to before 3.1.0 | 3.1.0 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | tools.jackson.core:jackson-core (Maven) | 3.0.0 to before 3.1.0 | 3.1.0 | Patch available | GHSA-72hv-8253-57qq |
| — | com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-core (Maven) | 2.19.0 to before 2.21.1 | 2.21.1 | Patch available | GHSA-72hv-8253-57qq |
| — | com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-core (Maven) | 2.15.0 to before 2.18.6 | 2.18.6 | Patch available | GHSA-72hv-8253-57qq |
- jackson-core VendorFasterXML Affected 2.15.0 – 2.18.5; 2.19.0 to before 2.21.1 Fixed in 2.18.6, 2.21.1 Patch available CNA
- jackson-core VendorFasterXML Affected 3.0.0 to before 3.1.0 Fixed in 3.1.0 Patch available CNA
- tools.jackson.core:jackson-core (Maven) Vendor— Affected 3.0.0 to before 3.1.0 Fixed in 3.1.0 Patch available GHSA-72hv-8253-57qq
- com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-core (Maven) Vendor— Affected 2.19.0 to before 2.21.1 Fixed in 2.21.1 Patch available GHSA-72hv-8253-57qq
- com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-core (Maven) Vendor— Affected 2.15.0 to before 2.18.6 Fixed in 2.18.6 Patch available GHSA-72hv-8253-57qq
Remediation
- Fix · CNA jackson-core (FasterXML) Fixed in 2.18.6, 2.21.1
- Fix · CNA jackson-core (FasterXML) Fixed in 3.1.0
- Fix · GHSA-72hv-8253-57qq tools.jackson.core:jackson-core (Maven) Fixed in 3.1.0 Advisory →
- Fix · GHSA-72hv-8253-57qq com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-core (Maven) Fixed in 2.21.1 Advisory →
- Fix · GHSA-72hv-8253-57qq com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-core (Maven) Fixed in 2.18.6 Advisory →
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| OpenShift Developer Tools and Services | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| OpenShift Serverless | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat AMQ Clients | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Build of Keycloak | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Certificate System 11 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform Expansion Pack | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat JBoss Web Server 7 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Lightspeed for Runtimes Operator | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Offline Knowledge Portal | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI) | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Satellite 6 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat build of Apache Camel for Spring Boot 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat build of Apicurio Registry 3 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat build of Debezium 3 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat build of Quarkus | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| streams for Apache Kafka 2 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| streams for Apache Kafka 3 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Not affected: 17 products
- Cryostat 4
- OpenShift Developer Tools and Services
- Red Hat AI Inference Server
- Red Hat AMQ Broker 7
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2
- Red Hat Build of Keycloak
- Red Hat Certificate System 10
- Red Hat Data Grid 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI) 3
- Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7
- Red Hat Satellite 6
- Red Hat Single Sign-On 7
- Red Hat build of Apache Camel - HawtIO 4
- Red Hat build of Apache Camel 4 for Quarkus 3
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-18401
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-72hv-8253-57qq
References
More FasterXML vulnerabilities
- TI-2017-12774 FasterXML jackson-databind through 2.8.10 and 2.9.x through 2.9.3 allows unauthenticated… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-48269 Resource allocation without limits in FasterXML jackson-core CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
- TI-2017-05167 Deserialization of untrusted data in FasterXML jackson-databind CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-61988 jackson-databind: quadratic forward-reference completion in Collection and Map deserializers CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-61987 jackson-databind: unbounded growth of the type id cache in TypeDeserializerBase retains every unknown raw type ID CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-60476 Uncontrolled resource consumption in FasterXML jackson-core CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2026-18401 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-18401 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-72hv-8253-57qq · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-18401 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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