Process termination via unbounded parser recursion
Published Sep 21, 2026 · Updated Sep 21, 2026
Uncontrolled recursion in Dasel 3.0.0 through 3.11.0 allows attackers to terminate the host process with deeply nested JSON or XML. The JSON decodeValue, decodeObject, and decodeArray functions and XML parseElement function recurse once per nesting level without enforcing a depth limit. An attacker must control JSON or XML consumed through the library, CLI, or parse selector; stack exhaustion raises an unrecoverable Go fatal error and terminates the entire process.
Summary
What happened
Uncontrolled recursion in Dasel 3.0.0 through 3.11.0 allows attackers to terminate the host process with deeply nested JSON or XML. The JSON decodeValue, decodeObject, and decodeArray functions and XML parseElement function recurse once per nesting level without enforcing a depth limit. An attacker must control JSON or XML consumed through the library, CLI, or parse selector; stack exhaustion raises an unrecoverable Go fatal error and terminates the entire process.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-59168
- Published
- Sep 21, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 21, 2026
- Vendor
- Tom Wright
- Product
- Dasel
- Classifications
- CWE-674, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 21, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 21, 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=>= 3.0.0, < 3.11.1
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.
Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.
Public exploit references
- Upstream deeply nested JSON and XML proof of conceptproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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