CVE-2026-81872

OpenTelemetry-Go: BatchProcessor can busy-spin when export buffer is full

Published Sep 16, 2026 CVSS 4.0 · 6.3 Medium EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
OpenTelemetry-Go is the Go implementation of OpenTelemetry. Prior to version 0.21.0, the go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/log BatchingProcessor can enter a tight CPU loop when attacker-driven log emission fills its asynchronous export buffer while the exporter is backpressured. NewBatchingProcessor wraps the exporter with newBufferExporter(exporter, 1), and the poll loop calls queue.TryDequeue and bufferExporter.EnqueueExport before immediately signaling pollTrigger whenever the queue remains at or above batchSize. Because a failed nonblocking EnqueueExport leaves the queue length unchanged, the processor repeatedly retries without waiting for its ticker, exhausting CPU and degrading or denying service in the embedding process. This issue is fixed in version 0.21.0.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-hjf4-fphr-2h65 OpenTelemetry-Go: BatchProcessor can busy-spin when export buffer is full
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-835
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.3, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L'}

threat_severity

Moderate

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Opentelemetry
Opentelemetry opentelemetry-go
Vendors & Products Opentelemetry
Opentelemetry opentelemetry-go
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'poc', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description OpenTelemetry-Go is the Go implementation of OpenTelemetry. Prior to version 0.21.0, the go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/log BatchingProcessor can enter a tight CPU loop when attacker-driven log emission fills its asynchronous export buffer while the exporter is backpressured. NewBatchingProcessor wraps the exporter with newBufferExporter(exporter, 1), and the poll loop calls queue.TryDequeue and bufferExporter.EnqueueExport before immediately signaling pollTrigger whenever the queue remains at or above batchSize. Because a failed nonblocking EnqueueExport leaves the queue length unchanged, the processor repeatedly retries without waiting for its ticker, exhausting CPU and degrading or denying service in the embedding process. This issue is fixed in version 0.21.0.
Title OpenTelemetry-Go: BatchProcessor can busy-spin when export buffer is full
Weaknesses CWE-400
CWE-834
References
Metrics cvssV4_0

{'score': 6.3, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
Sep 17, 2026, 1:36 PM
Reserved
Aug 27, 2026, 5:48 PM
Status
Awaiting Analysis
Published
Sep 16, 2026, 9:17 PM
Modified
Sep 30, 2026, 5:43 PM
Severity
Moderate
Public date
Sep 16, 2026, 8:42 PM