Unauthenticated denial of service via malformed JSON escapes
Published Feb 11, 2026 · Updated Feb 11, 2026
Interpretation conflict in GitLab CE/EE allows remote attackers to interrupt service through malformed JSON escape sequences. The JSON validation middleware and downstream parser interpret crafted escape sequences differently, so malformed input passes limits and consumes excessive CPU or memory. No authentication or user interaction is required; successful requests make a network-reachable instance unavailable.
Summary
What happened
Interpretation conflict in GitLab CE/EE allows remote attackers to interrupt service through malformed JSON escape sequences. The JSON validation middleware and downstream parser interpret crafted escape sequences differently, so malformed input passes limits and consumes excessive CPU or memory. No authentication or user interaction is required; successful requests make a network-reachable instance unavailable.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-0958
- Published
- Feb 11, 2026
- Updated
- Feb 11, 2026
- Vendor
- GitLab
- Product
- GitLab
- Classifications
- CWE-436, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Feb 11, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 11, 2026Record 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.
- Affected versionversion=18.4 <18.6.6
- Affected versionversion=18.7 <18.7.4
- Affected versionversion=18.8 <18.8.4
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- HackerOne report 3463363proof of concept · unverified
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Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
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