CVE-2025-5472 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) CWE-674 vulnerability in llama-index-core. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2025-5472 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Denial of Service via Uncontrolled Recursive JSON Parsing in JSONReader in run-llama/llama_index
Real-World Exposure
llama-index-coreReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
The JSONReader in run-llama/llama_index versions 0.12.28 is vulnerable to a stack overflow due to uncontrolled recursive JSON parsing. This vulnerability allows attackers to trigger a Denial of Service (DoS) by submitting deeply nested JSON structures, leading to a RecursionError and crashing applications. The root cause is the unsafe recursive traversal design and lack of depth validation, which makes the JSONReader susceptible to stack overflow when processing deeply nested JSON. This impacts the availability of services, making them unreliable and disrupting workflows. The issue is resolved in version 0.12.38.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | llama-index-core | all versions | 0.12.38 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for llama-index-core. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update llama-index-core to 0.12.38 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-5472 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2025-5472 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2025-5472. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2025-5472 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2025-5472 across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.