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Regex backtracking in OpenTelemetry Python tracestate parsing

Priority MEDIUM 63CWE-1333Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
Denial of service
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
None · None · Low
Fix status
Partial Red Hat: 1 fixed, 18 without a fix

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-1333.

Summary

The opentelemetry-python and opentelemetry-api packages before 1.45.1 are affected. TraceState.from_header parses inbound W3C tracestate headers with an unbounded regular expression, which is CWE-1333. A malformed header with a long run of spaces or tabs causes quadratic backtracking, so an unauthenticated remote attacker can consume excessive CPU time per request and delay other requests on the same worker or event loop. The impact is limited to availability.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-04

Description from the CNA

OpenTelemetry Python provides the Python API and SDK for OpenTelemetry. Prior to 1.45.1, the opentelemetry-api function TraceState.from_header in opentelemetry/trace/span.py, reached through TraceContextTextMapPropagator.extract, parses inbound W3C tracestate headers with an unbounded optional-whitespace regular expression. A malformed header containing a long run of spaces or tabs without a following comma causes quadratic backtracking before the member-count limit is applied. Services using the default W3C Trace Context propagator can therefore spend excessive CPU time on one unauthenticated request when the HTTP server, parser, gateway, or custom carrier accepts a sufficiently large header. The processing can occupy a synchronous worker or delay unrelated requests on the same asynchronous event loop. The impact is limited to availability and does not expose or modify telemetry data or allow code execution. This issue is fixed in version 1.45.1.

Why it matters now

Exploitation Proof of concept CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00487 42nd percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial opentelemetry-python (open-telemetry): 1.45.1opentelemetry-api (PyPI): 1.45.1Red Hat: 5 advisoriesRed Hat: 1 fixed, 18 without a fix

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

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
open-telemetryopentelemetry-pythonbefore 1.45.11.45.1Patch availableCNA
—opentelemetry-api (PyPI)before 1.45.11.45.1Patch availableGHSA-xcq7-p3pf-p88h
  • opentelemetry-python Vendoropen-telemetry Affected before 1.45.1 Fixed in 1.45.1 Patch available CNA
  • opentelemetry-api (PyPI) Vendor— Affected before 1.45.1 Fixed in 1.45.1 Patch available GHSA-xcq7-p3pf-p88h

Remediation

Upgrade opentelemetry-python and opentelemetry-api to version 1.45.1. Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.5 is fixed by RHSA-2026:94738, RHSA-2026:94721, RHSA-2026:94717, RHSA-2026:94709 and RHSA-2026:94702. Red Hat lists no available fix for Ansible Automation Orchestrator 2026, Lightspeed Core, OpenShift Lightspeed and other products, and no fix is planned for Exploit Intelligence.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-04

  • Fix · CNA opentelemetry-python (open-telemetry) Fixed in 1.45.1
  • Fix · GHSA-xcq7-p3pf-p88h opentelemetry-api (PyPI) Fixed in 1.45.1 Advisory →

Red Hat 5 advisories

  • RHSA-2026:94738 Released 2026-11-03 · Red Hat rating Critical
    Red Hat AI Inference 3.5.3 (CUDA)
    • Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.5 registry.redhat.io/rhaii/vllm-cuda-rhel9
  • RHSA-2026:94721 Released 2026-11-03 · Red Hat rating Critical
    Red Hat AI Inference Tech Preview 3.5.3 (Gaudi)
    • Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.5 registry.redhat.io/rhaii/vllm-gaudi-rhel9
  • RHSA-2026:94717 Released 2026-11-03 · Red Hat rating Critical
    Red Hat AI Inference 3.5.3 (Spyre)
    • Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.5 registry.redhat.io/rhaii/vllm-spyre-rhel9
Show 2 more Red Hat advisories
  • RHSA-2026:94709 Released 2026-11-03 · Red Hat rating Critical
    Red Hat AI Inference 3.5.3 (ROCm)
    • Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.5 registry.redhat.io/rhaii/vllm-rocm-rhel9
  • RHSA-2026:94702 Released 2026-11-03 · Red Hat rating Critical
    Red Hat AI Inference 3.5.3 (CPU)
    • Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.5 registry.redhat.io/rhaii/vllm-cpu-rhel9

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

ProductStatusPlan or fix
Ansible Automation Orchestrator 2026AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Exploit IntelligenceAffectedNo fix planned: Out of support scope
Lightspeed CoreAffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Lightspeed Services for Advanced Cluster ManagementAffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Migration Toolkit for Applications 8AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Migration Toolkit for ContainersAffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
OpenShift LightspeedAffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat 3scale API Management Platform 2AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat AI Inference ServerAffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI) 3AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux command line assistantAffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI)AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization 5AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Quay 3AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Satellite 6AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Trusted Artifact SignerAffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Update Infrastructure 4 for Cloud ProvidersAffectedNo fix planned: Out of support scope
Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.5Fixed RHSA-2026:94702, RHSA-2026:94709, RHSA-2026:94717, RHSA-2026:94721, RHSA-2026:94738

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-22 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-114603
  2. 2026-10-22 Alias added: GHSA-xcq7-p3pf-p88h
  3. 2026-10-22 Fix available: PyPI/[email protected] · GHSA-xcq7-p3pf-p88h
  4. 2026-10-22 CVSS score added · GHSA-xcq7-p3pf-p88h
  5. 2026-10-22 Weakness changed · GHSA-xcq7-p3pf-p88h
  6. 2026-10-22 6 new references · GHSA-xcq7-p3pf-p88h
  7. 2026-10-23 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
  8. 2026-10-23 CVSS score added · Red Hat
  9. 2026-10-29 CISA SSVC decision points changed
  10. 2026-10-29 Priority changed: LOW → MEDIUM
  11. 2026-11-04 Fix available: RHSA-2026:94717 · Red Hat
  12. 2026-11-04 Fix available: RHSA-2026:94709 · Red Hat
  13. 2026-11-04 Fix available: RHSA-2026:94738 · Red Hat
  14. 2026-11-04 Fix available: RHSA-2026:94702 · Red Hat
  15. 2026-11-04 Fix available: RHSA-2026:94721 · Red Hat
  16. 2026-11-04 Fix available: Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.5 · Red Hat
  17. 2026-11-04 Affected versions changed · Red Hat

References

  • TI-2024-23957 OpenTelemetry Collector has a Denial of Service via Zip/Decompression Bomb sent over HTTP or gRPC CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.2
  • TI-2026-42706 OpenTelemetry JavaScript: Denial of service in `JaegerPropagator` via unhandled exception on a malformed header CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
  • TI-2026-33428 OpenTelemetry eBPF Instrumentation: Memcached payload length overflow can crash OBI CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
  • TI-2026-33427 OpenTelemetry eBPF Instrumentation: MongoDB parser panics on malformed wire messages CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
  • TI-2026-33420 OpenTelemetry eBPF Instrumentation: Postgres BIND parsing can panic on malformed payloads CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
  • TI-2026-32777 opentelemetry-js: Prometheus exporter process crash via malformed HTTP request CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
See all 62 →

Sources