JLine: Unauthenticated Remote Memory Exhaustion via Unbounded Telnet NEW-ENVIRON Variables
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-400.
Summary
JLine is a Java library for handling console input. Prior to 3.30.14, 4.0.16, and 4.2.1, the JLine3 Telnet server remote-telnet module does not limit the number of environment variables a client may inject via the Telnet NEW-ENVIRON option, and TelnetIO.readNEVariables() in TelnetIO.java:1127-1180 stores each variable pair in a HashMap held by ConnectionData, allowing an unauthenticated attacker to flood unique variable pairs before the terminating IAC SE byte and exhaust JVM heap memory with an OutOfMemoryError. This issue is fixed in versions 3.30.14, 4.0.16, and 4.2.1.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| jline | jline3 | before 3.30.14; 4.0.0 to before 4.0.16; 4.1.0 to before 4.2.1 | 3.30.14, 4.0.16, 4.2.1 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | org.jline:jline-remote-telnet (Maven) | 4.1.0 to before 4.2.1 | 4.2.1 | Patch available | GHSA-47qp-hqvx-6r3f |
| — | org.jline:jline-remote-telnet (Maven) | 4.0.0 to before 4.0.16 | 4.0.16 | Patch available | GHSA-47qp-hqvx-6r3f |
| — | org.jline:jline-remote-telnet (Maven) | before 3.30.14 | 3.30.14 | Patch available | GHSA-47qp-hqvx-6r3f |
- jline3 Vendorjline Affected before 3.30.14; 4.0.0 to before 4.0.16; 4.1.0 to before 4.2.1 Fixed in 3.30.14, 4.0.16, 4.2.1 Patch available CNA
- org.jline:jline-remote-telnet (Maven) Vendor— Affected 4.1.0 to before 4.2.1 Fixed in 4.2.1 Patch available GHSA-47qp-hqvx-6r3f
- org.jline:jline-remote-telnet (Maven) Vendor— Affected 4.0.0 to before 4.0.16 Fixed in 4.0.16 Patch available GHSA-47qp-hqvx-6r3f
- org.jline:jline-remote-telnet (Maven) Vendor— Affected before 3.30.14 Fixed in 3.30.14 Patch available GHSA-47qp-hqvx-6r3f
Remediation
- Fix · CNA jline3 (jline) Fixed in 3.30.14, 4.0.16, 4.2.1
- Fix · GHSA-47qp-hqvx-6r3f org.jline:jline-remote-telnet (Maven) Fixed in 4.2.1 Advisory →
- Fix · GHSA-47qp-hqvx-6r3f org.jline:jline-remote-telnet (Maven) Fixed in 4.0.16 Advisory →
- Fix · GHSA-47qp-hqvx-6r3f org.jline:jline-remote-telnet (Maven) Fixed in 3.30.14 Advisory →
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
Not affected: 2 products
- Red Hat Fuse 7
- Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI)
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-56740
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-47qp-hqvx-6r3f
- 2026-10-13 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-30 EPSS moved to the below the 50th percentile
References
Patch 3
More Jline vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-40914 JLine: Unauthenticated Remote DoS via Unbounded Telnet NAWS Terminal Geometry CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2023-27628 An issue in the component GroovyEngine.execute of jline-groovy v3.24.1 allows attackers… CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.5
Sources
- CVE-2026-56740 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-56740 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-47qp-hqvx-6r3f · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-56740 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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