Regex backtracking in OpenTelemetry Python tracestate parsing
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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| open-telemetry | opentelemetry-python | before 1.45.1 | 1.45.1 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | opentelemetry-api (PyPI) | before 1.45.1 | 1.45.1 | Patch available | GHSA-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 CriticalRed 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 CriticalRed 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 CriticalRed 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 CriticalRed 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 CriticalRed 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 →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Ansible Automation Orchestrator 2026 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Exploit Intelligence | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Lightspeed Core | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Lightspeed Services for Advanced Cluster Management | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Migration Toolkit for Applications 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Migration Toolkit for Containers | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| OpenShift Lightspeed | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat 3scale API Management Platform 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat AI Inference Server | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI) 3 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux command line assistant | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI) | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization 5 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Quay 3 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Satellite 6 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Trusted Artifact Signer | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Update Infrastructure 4 for Cloud Providers | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.5 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:94702, RHSA-2026:94709, RHSA-2026:94717, RHSA-2026:94721, RHSA-2026:94738 |
Timeline
- 2026-10-22 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-114603
- 2026-10-22 Alias added: GHSA-xcq7-p3pf-p88h
- 2026-10-22 Fix available: PyPI/[email protected] · GHSA-xcq7-p3pf-p88h
- 2026-10-22 CVSS score added · GHSA-xcq7-p3pf-p88h
- 2026-10-22 Weakness changed · GHSA-xcq7-p3pf-p88h
- 2026-10-22 6 new references · GHSA-xcq7-p3pf-p88h
- 2026-10-23 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-23 CVSS score added · Red Hat
- 2026-10-29 CISA SSVC decision points changed
- 2026-10-29 Priority changed: LOW → MEDIUM
- 2026-11-04 Fix available: RHSA-2026:94717 · Red Hat
- 2026-11-04 Fix available: RHSA-2026:94709 · Red Hat
- 2026-11-04 Fix available: RHSA-2026:94738 · Red Hat
- 2026-11-04 Fix available: RHSA-2026:94702 · Red Hat
- 2026-11-04 Fix available: RHSA-2026:94721 · Red Hat
- 2026-11-04 Fix available: Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.5 · Red Hat
- 2026-11-04 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Other 6
- https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/security/advisories/GHSA-xcq7-p3pf-p88h
- https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/5749
- https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/commit/d5224bf4ffdf2aee1b592ad238dcc32ca957f26b
- https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md#version-1451066b1-2026-10-06
- https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/releases/tag/v1.45.1
- https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python
More open-telemetry vulnerabilities
- 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
Sources
- CVE-2026-114603 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-114603 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-xcq7-p3pf-p88h · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-114603 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences