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CVE-2026-40164

7.5 · HIGH

jq is a command-line JSON processor.

Published Apr 14, 2026CWE-328EPSS 0.59%

Overview

CVE-2026-40164 is a high-severity vulnerability. It was published on April 14, 2026 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH).

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5, rated HIGH. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.

Technical description

jq is a command-line JSON processor. Before commit 0c7d133c3c7e37c00b6d46b658a02244fdd3c784, jq used MurmurHash3 with a hardcoded, publicly visible seed (0x432A9843) for all JSON object hash table operations, which allowed an attacker to precompute key collisions offline. By supplying a crafted JSON object (~100 KB) where all keys hashed to the same bucket, hash table lookups degraded from O(1) to O(n), turning any jq expression into an O(n²) operation and causing significant CPU exhaustion. This affected common jq use cases such as CI/CD pipelines, web services, and data processing scripts, and was far more practical to exploit than existing heap overflow issues since it required only a small payload. This issue has been patched in commit 0c7d133c3c7e37c00b6d46b658a02244fdd3c784.

Remediation

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

References

GitHubgithub.com/jqlang/jq/commit/0c7d133c3c7e37c00b6d46b658a02244fdd3c784GitHubgithub.com/jqlang/jq/security/advisories/GHSA-wwj8-gxm6-jc29Refaccess.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:16252Refaccess.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:16692Refaccess.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:16693Refaccess.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18040Refaccess.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18042Refaccess.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18043Refaccess.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18044Refaccess.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18045

How CyberStrike helps

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-40164?

CVE-2026-40164 is a high-severity vulnerability. It was published on April 14, 2026 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH).

How severe is CVE-2026-40164?

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5, rated HIGH. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.

How do I fix or remediate CVE-2026-40164?

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2026-40164?

CyberStrike is an open-source, AI-augmented pentesting engine. Rather than flag a version number, it tests whether an issue like CVE-2026-40164 is actually reachable in your own applications and APIs, then verifies each finding before reporting it. That tells you if the weakness is a real, exploitable risk in your environment or a false positive you can safely deprioritize.

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