Disclosure summary
## Status **FULLY REPRODUCED** with a clean, textbook empirical signature: measured runtime grew almost exactly 4x for every doubling of input size across five consecutive doublings (5,000 → 160,000 characters), confirming O(n²) behavior. A single 160,000-character string (smaller than a typical HTTP request body) took **74.4 seconds** for one call to `NumberInput.looksLikeValidNumber()`. ## Affected Component / Version - **Package:** `com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-core` - **Confirmed against:** `jackson-core-2.20.2` - **Affected file:** `src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/core/io/NumberInput.java` (`PATTERN_FLOAT` line ~41-42, `PATTERN_FLOAT_TRAILING_DOT` line ~51, entry point `looksLikeValidNumber()` lines ~646-656) ## Technical Analysis ```java private final static Pattern PATTERN_FLOAT = Pattern.compile( "[+-]?[0-9]*[\\.]?[0-9]+([eE][+-]?[0-9]+)?"); private final static Pattern PATTERN_FLOAT_TRAILING_DOT = Pattern.compile( "[+-]?[0-9]+[\\.]"); public static boolean looksLikeValidNumber(final String s) { // ... short-circuits only for null/empty/length==1 ... return PATTERN_FLOAT.matcher(s).matches() || PATTERN_FLOAT_TRAILING_DOT.matcher(s).matches(); } ``` `PATTERN_FLOAT`
Source-specific records & product guidance
Sources retain their own attribution and scoring. Follow the original record to confirm affected versions, fixed releases, and configuration conditions.
GitHub Reviewed Security Advisories · GHSA-p6pp-m3f8-5c89
Open original source · Updated Oct 01, 2026
jackson-core: ReDoS: quadratic backtracking in NumberInput.PATTERN_FLOAT via looksLikeValidNumber()
Source severity: HIGH / 0
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected range | First patched |
|---|---|---|---|
| maven | com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-core | >= 2.17.0, | 2.18.11 |
| maven | com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-core | >= 2.19.0, | 2.21.7 |
| maven | com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-core | >= 2.22.0, | 2.22.3 |
| maven | tools.jackson.core:jackson-core | >= 3.0.0, | 3.1.7 |
| maven | tools.jackson.core:jackson-core | >= 3.2.0, | 3.2.2 |
Original records & references
- NIST NVD record
- CVE Program record
- github.com — Reviewed advisory
PUBLISHED 2026-10-01T11:19:21-04:00
MODIFIED 2026-10-01T11:19:23-04:00
INGESTED 2026-10-06T11:45:02-04:00