Details
### Summary
When an `@JsonIdentityInfo` collection or map first creates N unresolved
object-ID references and later resolves the same IDs in reverse order,
jackson-databind scans the remaining pending-reference accumulator for each
resolution. A shallow JSON document whose size grows linearly can therefore
cause quadratic CPU work during deserialization.
### Details
The affected path is forward-reference completion in
`CollectionDeserializer.CollectionReferringAccumulator.resolveForwardReference()`
and the corresponding map implementation. The implementation performs a
linear search of the pending accumulator for every resolved object ID.
The behavior is runtime-confirmed in jackson-databind 2.5.0, 2.22.1, and
3.2.1. Current 2.22 and 3.2 source branches retained the same design when
rechecked. A 2.4.0 control fails closed before successful reverse-order
completion, so 2.5.0 is the conservative runtime-confirmed affected floor.
The patched versions are: 2.18.11, 2.21.7, 2.22.3, 3.1.7 and 3.2.3.
The vulnerable application must deserialize attacker-influenced JSON into an
identity-enabled collection or map. The issue does not require deep nesting or
syntactically unusual JSON.
Suggested correction: replace repeated linear lookup/removal with a keyed
pending-reference structure or another design that provides linear or
amortized-linear completion. A regression should preserve input order,
duplicate-ID behavior, and unresolved-ID errors while bounding reverse-order
resolution work.
### PoC
The proof constructs a shallow collection containing N unresolved
`@JsonIdentityInfo` references followed by definitions of those same IDs in
reverse order. Its ID class counts `equals()` calls, giving a deterministic
work measure rather than a timing-dependent result.
With N=2,000, affected versions perform exactly 2,003,000 ID comparisons. An
equally sized control in which every reference is already resolved performs
zero comparisons in the pending-reference lookup path. The run is bounded to
a 512 MiB JVM. The result demonstrates quadratic growth: approximately
`N * (N + 1) / 2` comparisons, plus fixed setup comparisons.
### Impact
An unauthenticated source that can submit JSON to an application using the
affected identity-enabled collection or map shape can consume quadratic CPU
and exhaust a request-time or worker-capacity budget, causing denial of
service. The application model/configuration prerequisite is material. No
confidentiality, integrity, code-execution, or parser-depth impact is claimed.
Requested credit: Daniel Birtwhistle
EPSS — exploit probability
Low0.45%
estimated chance of real-world exploitation in the next 30 days — higher than 36.7% of every CVE FIRST.org scores
Refreshed 9/30/2026 — via FIRST.org's EPSS model, not CVSS — this measures likelihood of exploitation, not how severe it would be.