CVE-2026-40164

jq: Algorithmic complexity DoS via hardcoded MurmurHash3 seed

Published Apr 13, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 7.5 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
jq is a command-line JSON processor. Before commit 0c7d133c3c7e37c00b6d46b658a02244fdd3c784, jq used MurmurHash3 with a hardcoded, publicly visible seed (0x432A9843) for all JSON object hash table operations, which allowed an attacker to precompute key collisions offline. By supplying a crafted JSON object (~100 KB) where all keys hashed to the same bucket, hash table lookups degraded from O(1) to O(n), turning any jq expression into an O(n²) operation and causing significant CPU exhaustion. This affected common jq use cases such as CI/CD pipelines, web services, and data processing scripts, and was far more practical to exploit than existing heap overflow issues since it required only a small payload. This issue has been patched in commit 0c7d133c3c7e37c00b6d46b658a02244fdd3c784.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Debian DLA Debian DLA DLA-4599-1 jq security update
Debian DLA Debian DLA DLA-4662-1 jq security update
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8202-2 jq vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8202-3 jq regression
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8202-1 jq vulnerabilities
References
Link Providers
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:16252 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:16692 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:16693 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18040 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18042 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18043 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18044 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18045 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18046 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18047 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18048 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:19151 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:19365 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:23233 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:23245 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:25044 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:25096 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:25181 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:26528 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:26542 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:28887 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:30078 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:30087 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:30088 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:30089 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:34098 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:8579 cve-icon
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-40164 cve-icon
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2458084 cve-icon
https://github.com/jqlang/jq/commit/0c7d133c3c7e37c00b6d46b658a02244fdd3c784 cve-icon cve-icon cve-icon
https://github.com/jqlang/jq/security/advisories/GHSA-wwj8-gxm6-jc29 cve-icon cve-icon cve-icon
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-40164 cve-icon
https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-40164.json cve-icon
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-40164 cve-icon
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'poc', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Jqlang
Jqlang jq
Vendors & Products Jqlang
Jqlang jq
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description jq is a command-line JSON processor. Before commit 0c7d133c3c7e37c00b6d46b658a02244fdd3c784, jq used MurmurHash3 with a hardcoded, publicly visible seed (0x432A9843) for all JSON object hash table operations, which allowed an attacker to precompute key collisions offline. By supplying a crafted JSON object (~100 KB) where all keys hashed to the same bucket, hash table lookups degraded from O(1) to O(n), turning any jq expression into an O(n²) operation and causing significant CPU exhaustion. This affected common jq use cases such as CI/CD pipelines, web services, and data processing scripts, and was far more practical to exploit than existing heap overflow issues since it required only a small payload. This issue has been patched in commit 0c7d133c3c7e37c00b6d46b658a02244fdd3c784.
Title jq: Algorithmic complexity DoS via hardcoded MurmurHash3 seed
Weaknesses CWE-328
CWE-407
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
Sep 1, 2026, 12:04 PM
Reserved
Apr 9, 2026, 7:31 PM
Status
Deferred
Published
Apr 14, 2026, 12:16 AM
Modified
Oct 26, 2026, 10:10 PM
Severity
Important
Public date
Apr 13, 2026, 11:40 PM