CVE-2026-7541: CWE-770 Allocation of resources without limits or throttling in GitHub Enterprise Server
CVE-2026-7541 is a denial of service vulnerability in GitHub Enterprise Server versions prior to 3.21. An unauthenticated attacker can send crafted requests with deeply nested JSON payloads to an unauthenticated API endpoint, causing excessive CPU and memory consumption due to lack of size or depth limits in JSON parsing. This leads to service disruption. The issue was fixed in versions 3.20.2, 3.19.6, 3.18.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
This vulnerability involves the allocation of resources without limits or throttling (CWE-770) in GitHub Enterprise Server. Specifically, an unauthenticated API endpoint parses user-controlled JSON request bodies without enforcing size or depth constraints. Attackers can exploit this by sending deeply nested JSON payloads, causing excessive CPU and memory usage that results in denial of service. The vulnerability affects all versions before 3.21 and was addressed in multiple patch releases across affected versions. The CVSS 4.0 base score is 6.3 (medium severity), reflecting network attack vector, low attack complexity, no privileges or user interaction required, but high impact on availability.
Potential Impact
Successful exploitation causes denial of service by exhausting CPU and memory resources on the GitHub Enterprise Server, leading to service disruption. There is no indication of data confidentiality or integrity impact. The vulnerability can be triggered by unauthenticated attackers remotely, increasing risk to exposed instances.
Mitigation Recommendations
Fixes are available in GitHub Enterprise Server versions 3.20.2, 3.19.6, 3.18.9, 3.17.15, and 3.16.18. Users should upgrade to one of these patched versions or later to remediate this vulnerability. Since this is not a cloud service, remediation depends on applying these updates. Patch status is confirmed by the vendor advisory embedded in the description.
CVE-2026-7541: CWE-770 Allocation of resources without limits or throttling in GitHub Enterprise Server
Description
CVE-2026-7541 is a denial of service vulnerability in GitHub Enterprise Server versions prior to 3.21. An unauthenticated attacker can send crafted requests with deeply nested JSON payloads to an unauthenticated API endpoint, causing excessive CPU and memory consumption due to lack of size or depth limits in JSON parsing. This leads to service disruption. The issue was fixed in versions 3.20.2, 3.19.6, 3.18.
CVSS v4.0
Score 6.3medium
Affected software
Weaknesses
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
This vulnerability involves the allocation of resources without limits or throttling (CWE-770) in GitHub Enterprise Server. Specifically, an unauthenticated API endpoint parses user-controlled JSON request bodies without enforcing size or depth constraints. Attackers can exploit this by sending deeply nested JSON payloads, causing excessive CPU and memory usage that results in denial of service. The vulnerability affects all versions before 3.21 and was addressed in multiple patch releases across affected versions. The CVSS 4.0 base score is 6.3 (medium severity), reflecting network attack vector, low attack complexity, no privileges or user interaction required, but high impact on availability.
Potential Impact
Successful exploitation causes denial of service by exhausting CPU and memory resources on the GitHub Enterprise Server, leading to service disruption. There is no indication of data confidentiality or integrity impact. The vulnerability can be triggered by unauthenticated attackers remotely, increasing risk to exposed instances.
Mitigation Recommendations
Fixes are available in GitHub Enterprise Server versions 3.20.2, 3.19.6, 3.18.9, 3.17.15, and 3.16.18. Users should upgrade to one of these patched versions or later to remediate this vulnerability. Since this is not a cloud service, remediation depends on applying these updates. Patch status is confirmed by the vendor advisory embedded in the description.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- GitHub_P
- Date Reserved
- 2026-04-30T18:42:48.142Z
- Cvss Version
- 4.0
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Remediation Level
- null
Threat ID: 69fd095dcbff5d86103c8516
Added to database: 05/07/2026, 21:51:25 UTC
Last enriched: 05/15/2026, 11:00:40 UTC
Last updated: 07/31/2026, 19:23:00 UTC
Views: 106
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