CVE-2026-67216: 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 e
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.
Details
Original advisory: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-67216
Exploitation outlook
EPSS (FIRST.org) estimates each CVE’s probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — here is the CSIRTS.com read on those numbers.
- Low exploitation riskCVE-2026-672160.32% 30-day exploitation probability — currently an unlikely target, but scores change as exploit code circulates. Riskier than 24% of all scored CVEs.
Referenced CVEs
| CVE | CSIRTS overview | External |
|---|---|---|
| CVE-2026-67216 | coverage & exploitation status | NVD · CVE.org |
Recent advisories for cJSON
A cluster of recent advisories against the same product widens the attack surface — attackers routinely chain freshly published CVEs on one product, so review these together.
- mediumCVE-2026-67217: cJSON through 1.7.19 applies RFC 6902 JSON Patch operations non-atomically in apply_patch() in…nvd · 2026-07-29
- highCVE-2026-67215: cJSON through 1.7.19 is vulnerable to uncontrolled recursion leading to stack exhaustion when …nvd · 2026-07-29
- unknownCVE-2026-16554: cJSON library is vulnerable to an integer overflow in the print_string_ptr() function in cJSON…nvd · 2026-07-27
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