Service interruption via unbounded patch operations
Published Sep 7, 2026 · Updated Sep 9, 2026
Resource exhaustion in Java Json Tools json-patch 1.13 and earlier allows remote attackers to interrupt services via large JSON Patch documents. JsonPatch.apply iterates without an operation limit, timeout, or backpressure, while each operation deep-copies the growing JsonNode and multiplies CPU and memory work. Exposure requires an application endpoint that passes attacker-controlled JSON Patch documents to the library; processing can block threads and exhaust memory.
Summary
What happened
Resource exhaustion in Java Json Tools json-patch 1.13 and earlier allows remote attackers to interrupt services via large JSON Patch documents. JsonPatch.apply iterates without an operation limit, timeout, or backpressure, while each operation deep-copies the growing JsonNode and multiplies CPU and memory work. Exposure requires an application endpoint that passes attacker-controlled JSON Patch documents to the library; processing can block threads and exhaust memory.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-86319
- Published
- Sep 7, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 9, 2026
- Vendor
- Starcounter-Jack
- Product
- JSON-Patch
- Classifications
- CWE-400, T1499.003
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 7, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 9, 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=1.0
- Affected versionversion=1.1
- Affected versionversion=1.10
- Affected versionversion=1.11
- Affected versionversion=1.12
- Affected versionversion=1.13
- Affected versionversion=1.2
- Affected versionversion=1.3
- Affected versionversion=1.4
- Affected versionversion=1.5
- Affected versionversion=1.6
- Affected versionversion=1.7
- Affected versionversion=1.8
- Affected versionversion=1.9
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
- Unbounded JSON Patch operations proof of conceptproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
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