CVE-2026-67216 (GCVE-0-2026-67216)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-07-29 13:32 – Updated: 2026-07-30 15:19
VLAI
EPSS
VEX
Title
cJSON cJSON_Compare Exponential Complexity Denial of Service
Summary
cJSON through 1.7.19 contains an inefficient algorithmic complexity flaw in cJSON_Compare(). When comparing objects, the function recurses into each shared subtree twice, once in each direction, with no depth guard, making the running time exponential in nesting depth. A small, deeply nested document of a few hundred bytes (depth around 40) compared for equality consumes hours of CPU, and the cost roughly doubles with each additional level of nesting. An application that calls cJSON_Compare() on attacker-influenced JSON that is structurally equal to a reference document is exposed to a denial-of-service condition.
Severity
SSVC
Exploitation: poc
Automatable: no
Technical Impact: partial
CISA Coordinator · CISA-ADP (v2.0.3)
Decision recorded 2026-07-30 13:38 UTC
CWE
- CWE-407 - Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity
Assigner
VulnCheck
CNA
References
3 references
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| https://joshua.hu/cjson-json-parser-cve-vulnerabilities | exploit |
| https://github.com/DaveGamble/cJSON/blob/v1.7.19/… | technical-description |
| https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/cjson-cjson-… | third-party-advisory |
Impacted products
1 product
| Vendor | Product | Version | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DaveGamble | cJSON |
Affected:
0 , ≤ 1.7.19
(semver)
cpe:2.3:a:davegamble:cjson:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
Date Public
2026-07-25 00:00
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