jq: Unbounded Recursion in jv_setpath(), jv_getpath() and delpaths_sorted()
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 1 fixed, 6 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-674.
Summary
jq is a command-line JSON processor. In versions 1.8.1 and below, functions jv_setpath(), jv_getpath(), and delpaths_sorted() in jq's src/jv_aux.c use unbounded recursion whose depth is controlled by the length of a caller-supplied path array, with no depth limit enforced. An attacker can supply a JSON document containing a flat array of ~65,000 integers (~200 KB) that, when used as a path argument by a trusted jq filter, exhausts the C call stack and crashes the process with a segmentation fault (SIGSEGV). This bypass works because the existing MAX_PARSING_DEPTH (10,000) limit only protects the JSON parser, not runtime path operations where arrays can be programmatically constructed to arbitrary lengths. The impact is denial of service (unrecoverable crash) affecting any application or service that processes untrusted JSON input through jq's setpath, getpath, or delpaths builtins. This issue has been addressed in commit fb59f1491058d58bdc3e8dd28f1773d1ac690a1f.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
Red Hat 1 advisory
- RHSA-2026:8579 Released 2026-04-16 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
- Red Hat Hardened Images jq-1.8.1-3.hum1@aarch64, jq-1.8.1-3.hum1@src, jq-1.8.1-3.hum1@x86_64 +2
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Ceph Storage 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Hardened Images | Fixed | RHSA-2026:8579 |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-33947
References
More jqlang Jq vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-24844 jq: Integer overflow in jvp_string_append() allows Heap-based Buffer Overflow CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.2
- TI-2025-30431 AddressSanitizer: stack-buffer-overflow in jq_fuzz_execute (jv_string_vfmt) CVSS 4.0HIGH 7.7
- TI-2023-26962 decToString in decNumber/decNumber.c in jq 88f01a7 has a one-byte out-of-bounds write via… CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-28834 jq: Out-of-Bounds Read in jv_parse_sized() Error Formatting for Non-NUL-Terminated Counted Buffers CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 6.9
- TI-2024-35799 Type confusion in jqlang jq CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.1
- TI-2026-36743 jq --rawfile invalid-state reuse after String too long causes heap-buffer-overflow CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.1
Sources
- CVE-2026-33947 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-33947 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- CVE-2026-33947 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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