# CVE-2026-118259: opentelemetry-java: Quadratic CPU consumption in W3C tracestate parsing


- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 28 Oct 2026
- **Updated:** 28 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** ECHO-98e1-3ead-db23, GHSA-ccrj-gw8r-854m

## What is CVE-2026-118259?

CVE-2026-118259 is a medium-severity vulnerability in open-telemetry opentelemetry-java, published on 28 Oct 2026. 

### Official 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.

Weakness: CWE-1333 (Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-118259?

2 open source packages ship an affected version, including io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-api.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-api` | Maven | All versions | 1.67.0 |
| `io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-api` | Maven | All versions | 1.67.0 |

## How do I fix CVE-2026-118259?

Upgrade io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-api to 1.67.0 or later.

## Is CVE-2026-118259 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-118259 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-118259 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-118259 is a medium-severity vulnerability in open-telemetry opentelemetry-java, published on 28 Oct 2026. 
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-118259 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-api (Maven): affected all versions; fixed in 1.67.0
- io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-api (Maven): affected all versions; fixed in 1.67.0

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-2026-118259/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-118259/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-118259
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-118259
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-118259

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-118259/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.