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Medium, CVSS 5.3amended

opentelemetry-java: Quadratic CPU consumption in W3C tracestate parsing

CVE-2026-118259GHSA-ccrj-gw8r-854m

What to do

Vendor fix available. Upgrade each affected package to the fixed version on its release line (io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-api 1.67.0), redeploy, then verify what is actually installed.

This page has no inventory attached, so it cannot say whether you are affected. A vendor fix is not proof that your deployment is fixed.

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Affected packages

Sources

Severity and exploitation
Exploitation
No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.
CVSS
5.3 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
EPSS
  • CVE-2026-118259: 0.49% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 42.21 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.
Source description

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Summary OpenTelemetry Java's W3C trace-context propagator permits excessive CPU consumption when extracting crafted `tracestate` headers, potentially leading to denial of service. Regex backtracking causes quadratic parsing time for headers containing long runs of spaces or tabs without a following comma.

Impact An unauthenticated attacker whose headers reach `W3CTraceContextPropagator.extract()` can cause excessive CPU usage through crafted requests. Parsing blocks the calling thread, potentially affecting other connections when extraction runs on a shared event-loop thread. Actual impact depends on ingress header-size limits, proxy configuration, and threading. Header-size limits reduce the per-request cost but do not eliminate the vulnerability.

Patches Upgrade `io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-api` to version 1.67.0 or later. PR #8914 replaces regex delimiter splitting with literal comma scanning and…

Dates and revisions
Published by the source
Last modified by the source
Source last checked
  1. Revision 2 · amended ·

    Amended from osv record GHSA-ccrj-gw8r-854m

  2. Revision 1 · created ·

    Published from ghsa record GHSA-ccrj-gw8r-854m

Agent brief

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2026-118259

Advisory: opentelemetry-java: Quadratic CPU consumption in W3C tracestate parsing
IDs: CVE-2026-118259, GHSA-ccrj-gw8r-854m
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2026-118259 (revision 2, source checked 29 Oct 2026, 06:45 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Medium (CVSS 5.3)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-api 1.67.0. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Maven io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-api: affected < 1.67.0; fixed in 1.67.0

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Maven io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-api: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-api.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-ccrj-gw8r-854m (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-ccrj-gw8r-854m lists affected ranges: Maven io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-api >=0 <=1.66.0)
- Verified: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-ccrj-gw8r-854m (OSV record GHSA-ccrj-gw8r-854m lists affected ranges: Maven io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-api >=0 <1.67.0 (fixed))

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