cJSON through 1.7.19 is vulnerable to uncontrolled recursion leading to stack exhaustion when an untrusted RFC 6902 JSON Patch is applied via cJSONUtils_ApplyPatches() or cJSONUtils_ApplyPatchesCaseSensitive(). A patch containing add and copy operations grafts duplicated subtrees to amplify document depth beyond the parser's nesting limit: cJSON_Delete() recurses with no depth bound, and the cJSON_Duplicate() guard CJSON_CIRCULAR_LIMIT is set to 10000, ten times the parser's 1000-level nesting limit and high enough to overflow a default thread stack. An attacker who can supply the patch document can crash the process, resulting in denial of service.
Attack Parameters
Attack Vector
Network
Can be exploited remotely
Attack Complexity
Low
Easy to exploit
Attack Requirements
None
No additional conditions
Privileges Required
None
No privileges needed
User Interaction
None
No user interaction needed
Impact Assessment
Confidentiality
None
No data leak
Integrity
None
No data modification
Availability
High
Complete denial of service
CVSS Vector v4.0
Weakness Type (CWE)
Vulnerable Products 1
| Configuration | From (including) | Up to (excluding) |
|---|---|---|
|
Davegamble Cjson
cpe:2.3:a:davegamble:cjson:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
|
— | — |
References 4
https://github.com/DaveGamble/cJSON/blob/v1.7.19/cJSON.c#L253-L261
disclosure@vulncheck.com
https://github.com/DaveGamble/cJSON/blob/v1.7.19/cJSON_Utils.c#L906-L940
disclosure@vulncheck.com
https://joshua.hu/cjson-json-parser-cve-vulnerabilities
disclosure@vulncheck.com
https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/cjson-json-patch-copy-add-uncontrolled-rec…
disclosure@vulncheck.com