# CVE-2026-44967: opentelemetry-cpp: OTLP HTTP exporters read unbounded HTTP response

> An attacker controlling the collector endpoint or performing MITM can cause memory exhaustion in OpenTelemetry C++ OTLP HTTP exporters by sending unbounded responses.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:A/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:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 12 Jun 2026
- **Updated:** 12 Jun 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-90080, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-44967, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-44967

## What is CVE-2026-44967?

CVE-2026-44967 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in open-telemetry opentelemetry-cpp, published on 12 Jun 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

OpenTelemetry-cpp is the C++ implementation of OpenTelemetry. Prior to release 1.27.0, the OTLP HTTP exporters (traces/metrics/logs) read the full HTTP response into an in-memory vector of bytes without a size cap. This is exploitable for memory exhaustion when the configured collector endpoint is attacker-controlled (or a network attacker can MITM the exporter connection). This vulnerability is fixed in opentelemetry-cpp release 1.27.0.

Weakness: CWE-789 (Memory Allocation with Excessive Size Value)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-44967?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Opentelemetry Opentelemetry.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-44967?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2026-44967 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-44967 exists.

## Other vulnerabilities in open-telemetry opentelemetry-cpp

- [CVE-2026-29181](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-29181/): OpenTelemetry-Go multi-value `baggage` header extraction causes excessive allocations (remote dos amplification) (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2023-47108](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-47108/): DoS vulnerability in otelgrpc (uncontrolled resource consumption) due to unbound cardinality metrics (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2023-45142](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-45142/): OpenTelemetry-Go Contrib has DoS vulnerability in otelhttp due to unbound cardinality metrics (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2023-43810](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-43810/): opentelemetry-instrumentation Denial of Service vulnerability due to unbound cardinality metrics (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2026-39883](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-39883/): opentelemetry-go: BSD kenv command not using absolute path enables PATH hijacking (high 7.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-44967 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-44967 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in open-telemetry opentelemetry-cpp, published on 12 Jun 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-44967 exists.

Affected product: open-telemetry opentelemetry-cpp. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

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-2026-44967/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-44967/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-44967
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-44967
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-44967

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-44967/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.