Description
One CBOR-parsing issue in jackson-dataformats-binary's CBOR module: an unbounded run of CBOR tags drives quadratic-time TagList growth (CPU/GC-exhaustion DoS, PoC-proven).
PoC executed against com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat:jackson-dataformat-cbor:2.18.2; present in current 2.x and 3.x (tools.jackson.dataformat.cbor) HEAD. Distinct from the Avro and Smile/Protobuf advisories for this repo.
Quadratic CPU/GC DoS from an unbounded chain of CBOR tags (PoC-proven). File: cbor/src/main/java/.../cbor/CBORParser.java (tag handling -> TagList).
CBOR permits a data item to be preceded by any number of semantic tags. The CBOR parser accumulates them in a TagList whose backing array grows by a fixed increment (+8), not by doubling, and re-scans/copies on each growth. An attacker sends a value preceded by a long run of tag bytes; the fixed-increment growth makes accumulating N tags O(N^2) in time (plus GC pressure), with no cap on the number of stacked tags.
PoC (executed, JDK 17): feeding a CBOR stream consisting of a long run of tag bytes (e.g. tag 0xC0+) before a trivial value forces quadratic CPU/GC; parse time grows super-linearly with the tag count, pinning a request thread with no configurable limit.
Impact. Algorithmic-complexity denial of service (CWE-407): a modest input of stacked tags consumes quadratic CPU/GC, pinning a request thread; concurrent requests exhaust the pool.
Fix. Grow TagList by doubling and/or cap the number of stacked tags (StreamReadConstraints-style).
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| FasterXML | jackson-dataformat-cbor | 2.15.0 – < 2.18.12, 2.19.0 – < 2.21.8, 2.22.0 – < 2.22.4, 3.0.0 – < 3.1.8, 3.2.0 – < 3.2.4 | 2.18.12 |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | jackson-dataformats-binary | 2.22.4-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | jackson-dataformat-cbor | No fix yet | — |
| Debian 12 | jackson-dataformat-cbor | No fix yet | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.10 | jackson-dataformat-cbor | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | jackson-dataformat-cbor | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | jackson-dataformat-cbor | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | jackson-dataformat-cbor | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 20.04 LTS | jackson-dataformat-cbor | No fix yet | — |
Show 2 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | jackson-dataformat-cbor | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | jackson-dataformat-cbor | No fix yet | — |
References
- GHSA-cjg7-h3pr-p927 vendor-advisory