Dasel: Unbounded recursion in JSON and XML readers causes unrecoverable stack-overflow DoS
## Summary `dasel`'s JSON and XML readers parse nested structures with unbounded recursion, one native stack frame per nesting level, with no depth guard. A small (sub-10 MB), deeply nested document drives the Go runtime past its goroutine stack limit and triggers a `fatal error: stack overflow`. This is **unrecoverable**: it is a runtime fatal error, not a `panic`, so a consumer's `defer`/`recover` cannot intercept it, the entire process dies. Both readers are affected; neither has a depth limit, and the JSON reader additionally has no input-size cap (the XML reader caps size at 10 MB but not depth). ## Affected Versions `github.com/tomwright/dasel/v3` and all v3.x releases through **v3.11.0** (current `main`, commit `abc1e1d`). This vulnerability is fixed in 3.11.1. Pre-v3 is out of scope. ## Description ### JSON reader @ `parsing/json/json_reader.go` `decodeValue` (line 54) dispatches to the mutually-recursive `decodeObject` (line 78) and `decodeArray` (line 140). Each calls back into both for nested values (`decodeArray`→`decodeArray` at line 151, `decodeObject` at 163; `decodeObject`→`decodeArray` at 95, `decodeObject` at 111). Every `[` or `{` in the input adds one stack frame. There is **no depth counter and no `len(data)` cap** anywhere in the reader. ### XML reader @`parsing/xml/reader.go` `parseElement` (line 172) recurses at line 211 for every `xml.StartElement`. The file declares explicit DoS guards — `maxXMLSize = 10_000_000`, comment count/length — but these bou
GHSA-cqxr-jxr2-85pq
Primary source · Revision 1
Imported from structured advisory data. Source references identify upstream records or fields; verify affected versions and your deployed configuration.
Security context
Source reference: osv:GHSA-cqxr-jxr2-85pq
github.com/tomwright/dasel/v3
Source reference: /affected/0/package/name
- Affected versions
- Not stated in this record
- Fixed versions
- 3.11.1
Source reference:
/affected/0/ranges - Prerequisites
- Not stated in this record
Structured affected-version data
Original package identities and version rules from this source.
[
{
"ranges": [
{
"type": "SEMVER",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "3.0.0"
},
{
"fixed": "3.11.1"
}
]
}
],
"package": {
"name": "github.com/tomwright/dasel/v3",
"purl": "pkg:golang/github.com/tomwright/dasel/v3",
"ecosystem": "Go"
},
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2026/09/GHSA-cqxr-jxr2-85pq/GHSA-cqxr-jxr2-85pq.json",
"last_known_affected_version_range": "<= 3.11.0"
}
}
]- Related CVEs
- CVE-2026-59168
Source reference:
/aliases
Publisher severity
No explicit severity was provided.
- Event
- #63915 · Revision 1
- Added to Heist Feed
- Publisher date