jq: Wild stack write via signed-integer overflow in decNumber D2U() macro
jq is a command-line JSON processor. In 1.8.1 and earlier, when decNumberFromString is given a number literal of INT_MAX-1 (2147483646) digits, the D2U() macro overflows during signed-int arithmetic. The wrapped negative value bypasses the heap-allocation size check, causes the function to use a 30-byte stack buffer, and then writes ≈715 million 16-bit units (≈1.4 GiB) at an offset 1.43 GiB below the stack frame. The written content is fully attacker-controlled (the parsed decimal digits, packed 3-per-unit).
- Products
- Not specified
- Affected versions
- Not specified
- Fixed versions
- Not specified
- CVEs
- CVE-2026-43894
- Confirmed fixed CVEs
- Not specified
- Updated in this feed
- 3 Nov 2026, 00:00 UTC · Revision 1
Source evidence
jq: Wild stack write via signed-integer overflow in decNumber D2U() macro
core-osv · Original sourcePublished 11 May 2026, 17:20 UTC
jq is a command-line JSON processor. In 1.8.1 and earlier, when decNumberFromString is given a number literal of INT_MAX-1 (2147483646) digits, the D2U() macro overflows during signed-int arithmetic. The wrapped negative value bypasses the heap-allocation size check, causes the function to use a 30-byte stack buffer, and then writes ≈715 million 16-bit units (≈1.4 GiB) at an offset 1.43 GiB below the stack frame. The written content is fully attacker-controlled (the parsed decimal digits, packed 3-per-unit).
osv:CVE-2026-43894
Complete source record
{
"id": "ca4080072d041e741b0f62a658df3d1f2b71667ac0daa24dc24b37d3168241c7",
"url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-43894",
"method": "structured",
"payload": {
"kind": "advisory",
"title": "jq: Wild stack write via signed-integer overflow in decNumber D2U() macro",
"summary": "jq is a command-line JSON processor. In 1.8.1 and earlier, when decNumberFromString is given a number literal of INT_MAX-1 (2147483646) digits, the D2U() macro overflows during signed-int arithmetic. The wrapped negative value bypasses the heap-allocation size check, causes the function to use a 30-byte stack buffer, and then writes ≈715 million 16-bit units (≈1.4 GiB) at an offset 1.43 GiB below the stack frame. The written content is fully attacker-controlled (the parsed decimal digits, packed 3-per-unit).",
"evidence": "osv:CVE-2026-43894",
"products": [],
"severity": "medium",
"structured": {
"id": "CVE-2026-43894",
"aliases": [
"CVE-2026-43894",
"GHSA-5v7p-2r57-2g4g"
],
"metrics": [
{
"type": "CVSS_V3",
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
}
],
"affected": [
{
"ranges": [
{
"repo": "https://github.com/jqlang/jq",
"type": "GIT",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"last_affected": "4467af7068b1bcd7f882defff6e7ea674c5357f4"
}
],
"database_specific": {
"extracted_events": [
{
"range": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.8.1"
}
],
"source": "AFFECTED_FIELD",
"strategy": "StringRangeExpression"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:jqlang:jq:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.8.1"
}
],
"source": "CPE_RANGE"
}
]
}
}
],
"versions": [
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"jq-1.8.0",
"jq-1.7.1",
"jq-1.7",
"jq-1.7rc2",
"jq-1.7rc1",
"jq-1.6",
"1.6rc2",
"jq-1.6rc1",
"jq-1.5rc2",
"jq-1.5rc1",
"jq-1.4",
"jq-1.3",
"jq-1.2",
"jq-1.1",
"jq-1.0"
],
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-43894.json"
}
}
],
"modified": "2026-10-28T02:30:24.333368796Z",
"provider": "osv",
"references": [
"https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/43xxx/CVE-2026-43894.json",
"https://github.com/jqlang/jq/security/advisories/GHSA-5v7p-2r57-2g4g",
"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43894"
],
"provider_metadata": {
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-190"
],
"cna_assigner": "GitHub_M",
"osv_generated_from": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/43xxx/CVE-2026-43894.json"
}
},
"related_cves": [
{
"value": "CVE-2026-43894",
"evidence": "/id"
}
],
"security_relevant": true,
"severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
},
"source_id": "core-osv",
"document_id": 491033,
"published_at": "2026-05-11T17:20:06.055+00:00"
}