CVE-2023-33008Network attack vector

Denial of service via unbounded BigDecimal scale

Published Jul 7, 2023 · Updated Oct 7, 2024

Denial of service in Apache Johnzon 1.2.20 and earlier allows remote attackers to stall JSON processing with a large-scale number. Apache Johnzon’s JSON number deserialization accepts an exponent such as 1e20000000 as a BigDecimal without bounding its scale, driving a very slow BigDecimal-to-BigInteger conversion. Reachability requires an application to pass attacker-controlled JSON into the affected mapper path; the conversion consumes processing time and interrupts service without reported data disclosure or modification.

CVSS severity5.3
Medium
EPSS probability1.44%
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 Apache Johnzon 1.2.20 and earlier allows remote attackers to stall JSON processing with a large-scale number. Apache Johnzon’s JSON number deserialization accepts an exponent such as 1e20000000 as a BigDecimal without bounding its scale, driving a very slow BigDecimal-to-BigInteger conversion. Reachability requires an application to pass attacker-controlled JSON into the affected mapper path; the conversion consumes processing time and interrupts service without reported data disclosure or modification.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-33008
Published
Jul 7, 2023
Updated
Oct 7, 2024
Vendor
The Apache Software Foundation
Product
Apache Johnzon
Classifications
CWE-502, T1499.004
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jul 7, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Oct 7, 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=0 <=1.2.20
  2. Affected versionversion=0 <1.2.21

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

The Apache Software Foundation · Apache Johnzonversion=0 <=1.2.20; version=0 <1.2.21

Published CVSS scores

5.3GitHubCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
5.3IBMCVSS:3.0/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 exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-502Deserialization of Untrusted Data
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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