CVE-2026-67215: Uncontrolled Recursion in DaveGamble cJSON
cJSON through 1.7.19 is vulnerable to uncontrolled recursion leading to stack exhaustion when an untrusted RFC 6902 JSON Patch is applied via cJSONUtils_ApplyPatches() or cJSONUtils_ApplyPatchesCaseSensitive(). A patch containing add and copy operations grafts duplicated subtrees to amplify document depth beyond the parser's nesting limit: cJSON_Delete() recurses with no depth bound, and the cJSON_Duplicate() guard CJSON_CIRCULAR_LIMIT is set to 10000, ten times the parser's 1000-level nesting limit and high enough to overflow a default thread stack. An attacker who can supply the patch document can crash the process, resulting in denial of service.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
The vulnerability in cJSON up to version 1.7.19 involves uncontrolled recursion leading to stack exhaustion when processing untrusted RFC 6902 JSON Patch documents via cJSONUtils_ApplyPatches() or cJSONUtils_ApplyPatchesCaseSensitive(). The attack leverages add and copy operations to duplicate subtrees, amplifying the document's nesting depth beyond the parser's 1000-level limit. The cJSON_Delete() function recurses without a depth limit, and the circular reference guard (CJSON_CIRCULAR_LIMIT) is set to 10000, which is significantly higher than the parser's limit and sufficient to overflow a default thread stack. This results in a denial of service by crashing the process. The CVSS 4.0 score is 8.7 (high severity), indicating network attack vector, no privileges or user interaction required, and high impact on availability.
Potential Impact
Successful exploitation allows an attacker to cause a denial of service by crashing the process using a crafted JSON Patch document that triggers uncontrolled recursion and stack exhaustion. This impacts availability but does not require privileges or user interaction.
Mitigation Recommendations
Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the vendor advisory for current remediation guidance. Until a patch is available, avoid processing untrusted JSON Patch documents with cJSONUtils_ApplyPatches() or cJSONUtils_ApplyPatchesCaseSensitive().
CVE-2026-67215: Uncontrolled Recursion in DaveGamble cJSON
Description
cJSON through 1.7.19 is vulnerable to uncontrolled recursion leading to stack exhaustion when an untrusted RFC 6902 JSON Patch is applied via cJSONUtils_ApplyPatches() or cJSONUtils_ApplyPatchesCaseSensitive(). A patch containing add and copy operations grafts duplicated subtrees to amplify document depth beyond the parser's nesting limit: cJSON_Delete() recurses with no depth bound, and the cJSON_Duplicate() guard CJSON_CIRCULAR_LIMIT is set to 10000, ten times the parser's 1000-level nesting limit and high enough to overflow a default thread stack. An attacker who can supply the patch document can crash the process, resulting in denial of service.
CVSS v4.0
Score 8.7high
Affected software
DaveGamble
cJSON
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AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
The vulnerability in cJSON up to version 1.7.19 involves uncontrolled recursion leading to stack exhaustion when processing untrusted RFC 6902 JSON Patch documents via cJSONUtils_ApplyPatches() or cJSONUtils_ApplyPatchesCaseSensitive(). The attack leverages add and copy operations to duplicate subtrees, amplifying the document's nesting depth beyond the parser's 1000-level limit. The cJSON_Delete() function recurses without a depth limit, and the circular reference guard (CJSON_CIRCULAR_LIMIT) is set to 10000, which is significantly higher than the parser's limit and sufficient to overflow a default thread stack. This results in a denial of service by crashing the process. The CVSS 4.0 score is 8.7 (high severity), indicating network attack vector, no privileges or user interaction required, and high impact on availability.
Potential Impact
Successful exploitation allows an attacker to cause a denial of service by crashing the process using a crafted JSON Patch document that triggers uncontrolled recursion and stack exhaustion. This impacts availability but does not require privileges or user interaction.
Mitigation Recommendations
Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the vendor advisory for current remediation guidance. Until a patch is available, avoid processing untrusted JSON Patch documents with cJSONUtils_ApplyPatches() or cJSONUtils_ApplyPatchesCaseSensitive().
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- VulnCheck
- Date Reserved
- 2026-07-28T19:20:19.157Z
- Cvss Version
- 4.0
- State
- PUBLISHED
Threat ID: 6a6a093c9c2644c7f89a3159
Added to database: 07/29/2026, 14:07:56 UTC
Last enriched: 08/05/2026, 14:51:59 UTC
Last updated: 09/12/2026, 02:29:16 UTC
Views: 84
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