# CVE-2026-107833: OWASP Coraza WAF: Unbounded recursion in JSON response body processor causes CPU exhaustion

> An attacker can cause CPU exhaustion in OWASP Coraza WAF by sending deeply nested JSON responses, requiring response-body inspection to be enabled.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 9 Oct 2026
- **Updated:** 9 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-3c6w-j9xm-8h2h, GO-2026-6690

## What is CVE-2026-107833?

CVE-2026-107833 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in corazawaf coraza, published on 9 Oct 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

OWASP Coraza WAF is a golang modsecurity compatible web application firewall library. From 3.0.0 until 3.8.0, ProcessResponse in internal/bodyprocessors/json.go passes the ignoreJSONRecursionLimit value of -1 to readJSON, while the recursive guard only stops at zero. A network attacker who can cause an application protected by Coraza to return deeply nested JSON can make response-body processing perform quadratic work, consuming one CPU core for seconds per response within the default ResponseBodyLimit. Request JSON processing is not affected by this specific path because it uses the configured request recursion limit, and exploitation requires response-body inspection to be enabled. This issue is fixed in version 3.8.0.

Weakness: CWE-674 (Uncontrolled Recursion)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-107833?

5 open source packages ship an affected version, including github.com/corazawaf/coraza/v3, github.com/corazawaf/coraza and github.com/corazawaf/coraza/v2.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `github.com/corazawaf/coraza/v3` | Go | From 3.0.0 | 3.8.0 |
| `github.com/corazawaf/coraza/v3` | Go | From 3.0.0 | 3.8.0 |
| `github.com/corazawaf/coraza/v3` | Go | From 3.0.0 | 3.8.0 |
| `github.com/corazawaf/coraza` | Go | All versions | None |
| `github.com/corazawaf/coraza/v2` | Go | All versions | None |

## How do I fix CVE-2026-107833?

Upgrade github.com/corazawaf/coraza/v3 to 3.8.0 or later.

## Is CVE-2026-107833 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-107833 exists.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-107833 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-107833 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in corazawaf coraza, published on 9 Oct 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-107833 exists.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- github.com/corazawaf/coraza/v3 (Go): affected from 3.0.0; fixed in 3.8.0
- github.com/corazawaf/coraza/v3 (Go): affected from 3.0.0; fixed in 3.8.0
- github.com/corazawaf/coraza/v3 (Go): affected from 3.0.0; fixed in 3.8.0
- github.com/corazawaf/coraza (Go): affected all versions; no fix listed
- github.com/corazawaf/coraza/v2 (Go): affected all versions; no fix listed

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-107833/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-107833/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-107833
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-107833
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-107833

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-107833/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.