Description
opentelemetry-java is the Java implementation of the OpenTelemetry API for recording telemetry, and SDK for managing telemetry recorded by the API. Prior to 1.67.0, W3CTraceContextPropagator.extract() uses regex delimiter processing that can exhibit quadratic backtracking while parsing tracestate headers containing long runs of spaces or tabs without a following comma. An unauthenticated attacker whose headers reach extraction can repeatedly block request or event-loop threads and cause excessive CPU consumption, with practical impact bounded by ingress header-size limits, proxy configuration, and threading. This issue is fixed in version 1.67.0.
References5
- github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java/commit/ba4dfea9164…
- github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java/commit/cc4f5f22aed…
- github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java/pull/8914
- github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java/releases/tag/v1.67…
- github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java/security/advisorie…
Metrics
- CVSS 3.1
-
5.3
MEDIUM
Score source: CNA
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L - EPSS — exploit probability
- 0% percentile: 42 · as of 3 November 2026
- CWE
- CWE-1333
Could this be exploited in your environment?
A patch closes the known hole. A penetration test shows what an attacker can still reach — with proof.