CVE-2026-102461
8.7HighPublished 15 Oct 2026 · NVD status: Undergoing Analysis · AI triage by gemini-3.8-flash
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Impact
- High impact on availability
- Weakness
- CWE-407
Impact
Remote unauthenticated attackers can cause a CPU-exhaustion denial of service by sending a moderately-sized JSON array over the network. They require no special privileges or user interaction.
Root cause
The uniqueItems JSON schema validator runs an unbounded O(n²) pairwise comparison loop without size limits or short-circuiting.
Affected systems
io.vertx:vertx-json-schema (and dependent modules vertx-web-openapi-router, vertx-web-validation, vertx-openapi) versions 4.0.0 through 4.5.34, 5.0.0 through 5.0.12, 5.1.0 through 5.1.9, and 5.2.0.
CVSS v4.0 · CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Fix & remediation
Upgrade io.vertx:vertx-json-schema (or parent Vert.x dependencies) to patched releases beyond 4.5.34, 5.0.12, 5.1.9, or 5.2.0. If patching immediately is not possible, reject or rate-limit large JSON arrays and limit request payload sizes at your reverse proxy or API gateway.
$ mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=io.vertx:vertx-json-schemaAI-suggested. Run it in staging first and check it against the vendor advisory. Why?
NVD description
In Eclipse Vert.x versions [4.0.0, 4.5.34] or [5.0.0,5.0.12] or [5.1.0,5.1.9] or [5.2.0, 5.2.0], the uniqueItems keyword validation uses an O(n²) pairwise comparison loop with no short-circuit or size limit. A remote unauthenticated attacker can submit a moderately-sized JSON array that consumes disproportionate CPU time, leading to denial of service. The impacted component is io.vertx:vertx-json-schema. The following Vert.x modules depend on vertx-json-schema and are also affected: io.vertx:vertx-web-openapi-router io.vertx:vertx-web-validation io.vertx:vertx-openapi