UBUNTU-CVE-2026-40164 (CVE-2026-40164)

Vulnerability from osv_ubuntu – Published: 2026-04-14 00:16 – Updated: 2026-08-31 14:20 – Source website
VLAI
Details

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.

Severity
7.5 (High)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
7.5 (High)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
N/A (UNKNOWN)
medium
References
To clipboard 

{
  "affected": [
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "jq",
            "binary_version": "1.3-1.1ubuntu1.1+esm4"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:Pro:14.04:LTS",
        "name": "jq",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/jq@1.3-1.1ubuntu1.1+esm4?arch=source\u0026distro=esm-infra-legacy/trusty"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "1.2-8",
        "1.3-1",
        "1.3-1.1ubuntu1",
        "1.3-1.1ubuntu1.1",
        "1.3-1.1ubuntu1.1+esm3",
        "1.3-1.1ubuntu1.1+esm4"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "availability": "Available with Ubuntu Pro: https://ubuntu.com/pro",
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "jq",
            "binary_version": "1.5+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1+esm4"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:Pro:16.04:LTS",
        "name": "jq",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/jq@1.5+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1+esm4?arch=source\u0026distro=esm-apps/xenial"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "1.5+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1+esm4"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "1.4-2.1",
        "1.5+dfsg-1",
        "1.5+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1",
        "1.5+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1+esm2",
        "1.5+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1+esm3"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "availability": "Available with Ubuntu Pro: https://ubuntu.com/pro",
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "jq",
            "binary_version": "1.5+dfsg-2ubuntu0.1~esm3"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "libjq1",
            "binary_version": "1.5+dfsg-2ubuntu0.1~esm3"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:Pro:18.04:LTS",
        "name": "jq",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/jq@1.5+dfsg-2ubuntu0.1~esm3?arch=source\u0026distro=esm-apps/bionic"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "1.5+dfsg-2ubuntu0.1~esm3"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "1.5+dfsg-2",
        "1.5+dfsg-2ubuntu0.1~esm1",
        "1.5+dfsg-2ubuntu0.1~esm2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "availability": "Available with Ubuntu Pro (Infra-only): https://ubuntu.com/pro",
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "jq",
            "binary_version": "1.6-1ubuntu0.20.04.1+esm2"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "libjq1",
            "binary_version": "1.6-1ubuntu0.20.04.1+esm2"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:Pro:20.04:LTS",
        "name": "jq",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/jq@1.6-1ubuntu0.20.04.1+esm2?arch=source\u0026distro=esm-infra/focal"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "1.6-1ubuntu0.20.04.1+esm2"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "1.5+dfsg-2build1",
        "1.6-1",
        "1.6-1ubuntu0.20.04.1",
        "1.6-1ubuntu0.20.04.1+esm1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "availability": "No subscription required",
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "jq",
            "binary_version": "1.6-2.1ubuntu3.2"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "libjq1",
            "binary_version": "1.6-2.1ubuntu3.2"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:22.04:LTS",
        "name": "jq",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/jq@1.6-2.1ubuntu3.2?arch=source\u0026distro=jammy"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "1.6-2.1ubuntu3.2"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "1.6-2.1ubuntu2",
        "1.6-2.1ubuntu3",
        "1.6-2.1ubuntu3.1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "availability": "No subscription required",
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "jq",
            "binary_version": "1.7.1-3ubuntu0.24.04.2"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "libjq1",
            "binary_version": "1.7.1-3ubuntu0.24.04.2"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:24.04:LTS",
        "name": "jq",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/jq@1.7.1-3ubuntu0.24.04.2?arch=source\u0026distro=noble"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "1.7.1-3ubuntu0.24.04.2"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "1.6-3",
        "1.7-1",
        "1.7.1-2",
        "1.7.1-3",
        "1.7.1-3build1",
        "1.7.1-3ubuntu0.24.04.1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "availability": "No subscription required",
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "jq",
            "binary_version": "1.8.1-3ubuntu1.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "libjq1",
            "binary_version": "1.8.1-3ubuntu1.1"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:25.10",
        "name": "jq",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/jq@1.8.1-3ubuntu1.1?arch=source\u0026distro=questing"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "1.8.1-3ubuntu1.1"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "1.7.1-3ubuntu1",
        "1.7.1-6ubuntu1",
        "1.8.1-3ubuntu1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "availability": "No subscription required",
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "jq",
            "binary_version": "1.8.1-4ubuntu2"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "libjq1",
            "binary_version": "1.8.1-4ubuntu2"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:26.04:LTS",
        "name": "jq",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/jq@1.8.1-4ubuntu2?arch=source\u0026distro=resolute"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "1.8.1-4ubuntu2"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "1.8.1-3ubuntu1",
        "1.8.1-4ubuntu1"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [],
  "details": "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(n\u00b2) 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.",
  "id": "UBUNTU-CVE-2026-40164",
  "modified": "2026-08-31T14:20:43Z",
  "published": "2026-04-14T00:16:00Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "REPORT",
      "url": "https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-40164"
    },
    {
      "type": "REPORT",
      "url": "https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-40164"
    },
    {
      "type": "REPORT",
      "url": "https://github.com/jqlang/jq/security/advisories/GHSA-wwj8-gxm6-jc29"
    },
    {
      "type": "REPORT",
      "url": "https://github.com/jqlang/jq/commit/0c7d133c3c7e37c00b6d46b658a02244fdd3c784"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8202-1"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8202-2"
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "USN-8202-1",
    "USN-8202-2"
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.7.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    },
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    },
    {
      "score": "medium",
      "type": "Ubuntu"
    }
  ],
  "upstream": [
    "CVE-2026-40164"
  ]
}



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