CVE-2023-26144Public exploitNetwork attack vector

Service degradation via quadratic field comparison

Published Sep 20, 2023 · Updated Sep 24, 2024

Denial of service in GraphQL.js 16.3.0 through 16.8.0 allows remote attackers to degrade server performance with large queries. OverlappingFieldsCanBeMergedRule repeatedly serializes and sorts argument objects during pairwise comparisons of repeated fields, driving steep CPU and latency growth. Exposure requires an application to validate attacker-supplied GraphQL queries without an effective size or complexity limit; a process crash has not been demonstrated.

CVSS severity5.3
Medium
EPSS probability1.20%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Denial of service in GraphQL.js 16.3.0 through 16.8.0 allows remote attackers to degrade server performance with large queries. OverlappingFieldsCanBeMergedRule repeatedly serializes and sorts argument objects during pairwise comparisons of repeated fields, driving steep CPU and latency growth. Exposure requires an application to validate attacker-supplied GraphQL queries without an effective size or complexity limit; a process crash has not been demonstrated.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-26144
Published
Sep 20, 2023
Updated
Sep 24, 2024
Vendor
GraphQL Foundation
Product
GraphQL.js
Classifications
CWE-400, T1499.004
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 20, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 24, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=16.3.0 <16.8.1

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

GraphQL Foundation · GraphQL.jsversion=16.3.0 <16.8.1

Published CVSS scores

5.3GitHub Advisory DatabaseCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-400Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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