HAPI FHIR: JSON utility parser unbounded recursion causes StackOverflow denial of service
- Published
- Last modified
- Where the record stands: published, rejected by its publisher, or superseded by another id.What do these mean? →
- published
- Whether CISA lists it in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog: proof that attackers are using it.What do these mean? →
- Not listed in CISA KEV
- Fix
- Fixed in 6.9.11
- Whether working attack code is public (Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei or GitHub). Public code makes attacks easier.What do these mean? →
- None on Exploit-DB, Metasploit or GitHub
- Exploitation: poc
- Automatable: yes
- Technical impact: partial
Summary
HAPI FHIR is a complete implementation of the HL7 FHIR standard for healthcare interoperability in Java. Prior to 6.9.11, the JSON utility parser in org.hl7.fhir.utilities.json.parser.JsonParser enforces no maximum nesting depth for arrays or objects. As a result, a small but deeply nested, syntactically valid FHIR JSON document can trigger unbounded readArray() or readObject() recursion, raising a StackOverflowError before structural validation runs. An attacker who can submit JSON resources for validation can thus crash the request thread, and services that do not isolate StackOverflowError safely may experience worker loss or process instability — a denial-of-service condition. This issue is fixed in version 6.9.11.
Timeline
- CVE published
- CISA SSVC assessment
Exploitation: poc · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: partial
- Record last updated
Affected versions
- hapifhir org.hl7.fhir.core
fixed in 6.9.11
- hapifhir ca.uhn.hapi.fhir:org.hl7.fhir.r5
fixed in 6.9.11
- hapifhir ca.uhn.hapi.fhir:org.hl7.fhir.utilities
fixed in 6.9.11
- hapifhir ca.uhn.hapi.fhir:org.hl7.fhir.validation
fixed in 6.9.11
- hapifhir ca.uhn.hapi.fhir:org.hl7.fhir.validation.cli
fixed in 6.9.11