jackson-core can throw a StackoverflowError when processing deeply nested data

Description

Impact

With older versions of jackson-core, if you parse an input file and it has deeply nested data, Jackson could end up throwing a StackoverflowError if the depth is particularly large.

Patches

jackson-core 2.15.0 contains a configurable limit for how deep Jackson will traverse in an input document, defaulting to an allowable depth of 1000. Change is in https://github.com/FasterXML/jackson-core/pull/943. jackson-core will throw a StreamConstraintsException if the limit is reached.
jackson-databind also benefits from this change because it uses jackson-core to parse JSON inputs.

Workarounds

Users should avoid parsing input files from untrusted sources.

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
high
Advisory on GitHub
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Repository advisory
Open repository advisory ↗
Source code
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Published (advisory)
2025-06-27 15:22:22 UTC
Updated
2025-06-27 15:22:22 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2025-06-27 15:22:22 UTC
NVD published
2025-06-25

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.08% 24.72%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
8.7 4.0
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and stable.
Attack requirements (AT:N)
No additional preconditions are required beyond normal reachability.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No privileges are required.
User interaction (UI:N)
No user interaction is required.
Vulnerable system confidentiality impact (VC:N)
No confidentiality impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system integrity impact (VI:N)
No integrity impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system availability impact (VA:H)
High availability impact on the vulnerable system.
Subsequent system confidentiality impact (SC:N)
No confidentiality impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system integrity impact (SI:N)
No integrity impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system availability impact (SA:N)
No availability impact on subsequent systems.

Identifiers

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-121 Stack-based Buffer Overflow

Affected packages (1)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
maven com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-core < 2.15.0 2.15.0

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence