CVE-2026-54712 — opentelemetry-javaagent
MEDIUMFix: open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java-instrumentation#17870CVE-2026-54712 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in io.opentelemetry.javaagent:opentelemetry-javaagent. A fix is available for io.opentelemetry.javaagent:opentelemetry-javaagent — see the affected versions and patch details below.
OpenTelemetry Javaagent RMI context propagation allows resource exhaustion
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2026-54712.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2026-54712 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 384,993 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
io.opentelemetry.javaagent:opentelemetry-javaagentReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
OpenTelemetry Java Instrumentation provides OpenTelemetry auto-instrumentation and instrumentation libraries for Java. In versions prior to 2.27.0, the RMI context propagation payload reader limits the number of context entries but does not limit the aggregate size of the strings read from the stream. An attacker who can reach an RMI endpoint on an instrumented JVM can send an oversized context propagation payload. This can cause excessive memory allocation while the JVM reads the payload, potentially leading to denial of service. The issue affects only deployments where RMI instrumentation is enabled and an RMI endpoint is network-reachable. This issue has been fixed in version 2.27.0.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | io.opentelemetry.javaagent:opentelemetry-javaagent | all versions | 2.27.0io.opentelemetry.javaagent:opentelemetry-javaagent:2.27.0 |
Affected Products
opentelemetry instrumentation for javalinuxfoundationDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for io.opentelemetry.javaagent:opentelemetry-javaagent, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update io.opentelemetry.javaagent:opentelemetry-javaagent to 2.27.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-54712 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-54712 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.