Red Hat Security Advisory: jq security update
jq is a lightweight and flexible command-line JSON processor. jq is like sed for JSON data. You can use it to slice, filter, map, or transform structured data with the same ease that sed, awk, grep, or similar applications allow you to manipulate text. Security Fix(es): * jq: out-of-bounds read in jv_parse_sized() on error formatting for non-NUL-terminated buffers (CVE-2026-39979) * jq: jq: Denial of Service via crafted JSON object causing hash collisions (CVE-2026-40164) For more details about the security issue(s), including the impact, a CVSS score, acknowledgments, and other related information, refer to the CVE page(s) listed in the References section.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
The jq utility in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and related products contains two vulnerabilities: an out-of-bounds read in the jv_parse_sized() function when handling non-NUL-terminated buffers (CVE-2026-39979), and a denial of service vulnerability via crafted JSON objects causing hash collisions (CVE-2026-40164). These issues could lead to memory safety violations and service disruption. Red Hat has released updated jq packages (version 1.6-19.el9_7.0.2) for multiple architectures including x86_64, s390x, ppc64le, and aarch64 to address these vulnerabilities. The advisory rates the impact as Important and provides instructions for applying the update.
Potential Impact
The out-of-bounds read vulnerability (CVE-2026-39979) may cause memory corruption or crashes when jq processes malformed JSON buffers. The denial of service vulnerability (CVE-2026-40164) allows an attacker to cause jq to consume excessive resources or crash by submitting specially crafted JSON objects that cause hash collisions. Both vulnerabilities can disrupt normal operation of jq and any services or scripts relying on it for JSON processing.
Mitigation Recommendations
Red Hat has released updated jq packages that fix these vulnerabilities. Users of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and related products should apply the security update RHSA-2026:16693 promptly. Detailed update instructions are available at https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258. No additional mitigations are required beyond applying the official patch.
Red Hat Security Advisory: jq security update
Description
jq is a lightweight and flexible command-line JSON processor. jq is like sed for JSON data. You can use it to slice, filter, map, or transform structured data with the same ease that sed, awk, grep, or similar applications allow you to manipulate text. Security Fix(es): * jq: out-of-bounds read in jv_parse_sized() on error formatting for non-NUL-terminated buffers (CVE-2026-39979) * jq: jq: Denial of Service via crafted JSON object causing hash collisions (CVE-2026-40164) For more details about the security issue(s), including the impact, a CVSS score, acknowledgments, and other related information, refer to the CVE page(s) listed in the References section.
Affected software
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
The jq utility in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and related products contains two vulnerabilities: an out-of-bounds read in the jv_parse_sized() function when handling non-NUL-terminated buffers (CVE-2026-39979), and a denial of service vulnerability via crafted JSON objects causing hash collisions (CVE-2026-40164). These issues could lead to memory safety violations and service disruption. Red Hat has released updated jq packages (version 1.6-19.el9_7.0.2) for multiple architectures including x86_64, s390x, ppc64le, and aarch64 to address these vulnerabilities. The advisory rates the impact as Important and provides instructions for applying the update.
Potential Impact
The out-of-bounds read vulnerability (CVE-2026-39979) may cause memory corruption or crashes when jq processes malformed JSON buffers. The denial of service vulnerability (CVE-2026-40164) allows an attacker to cause jq to consume excessive resources or crash by submitting specially crafted JSON objects that cause hash collisions. Both vulnerabilities can disrupt normal operation of jq and any services or scripts relying on it for JSON processing.
Mitigation Recommendations
Red Hat has released updated jq packages that fix these vulnerabilities. Users of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and related products should apply the security update RHSA-2026:16693 promptly. Detailed update instructions are available at https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258. No additional mitigations are required beyond applying the official patch.
Technical Details
- Gcve Source
- db.gcve.eu
- Csaf Category
- csaf_security_advisory
- Csaf Version
- 2.0
- Publisher
- Red Hat Product Security
- Advisory Id
- RHSA-2026:16693
- Cve Count
- 2
- Additional Cves
- ["CVE-2026-40164"]
- Cvss Version
- null
Threat ID: 6a1f4e85e29bf47b5007d9ab
Added to database: 06/02/2026, 21:43:33 UTC
Last enriched: 07/10/2026, 12:54:31 UTC
Last updated: 07/31/2026, 19:24:46 UTC
Views: 100
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