GHSA-493p-pfq6-5258
HIGHjson-smart Uncontrolled Recursion vulnerability
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
Blast Radius
net.minidev:json-smartReal-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
Impact
Affected versions of net.minidev:json-smart are vulnerable to Denial of Service (DoS) due to a StackOverflowError when parsing a deeply nested JSON array or object.
When reaching a ‘[‘ or ‘{‘ character in the JSON input, the code parses an array or an object respectively. It was discovered that the 3PP does not have any limit to the nesting of such arrays or objects. Since the parsing of nested arrays and objects is done recursively, nesting too many of them can cause stack exhaustion (stack overflow) and crash the software.
Patches
This vulnerability was fixed in json-smart version 2.4.9, but the maintainer recommends upgrading to 2.4.10, due to a remaining bug.
Workarounds
N/A
References
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | net.minidev:json-smart | all versions | 2.4.9 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for net.minidev:json-smart. 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 net.minidev:json-smart to 2.4.9 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-493p-pfq6-5258 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 GHSA-493p-pfq6-5258 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 GHSA-493p-pfq6-5258. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-493p-pfq6-5258 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-493p-pfq6-5258 across Maven dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.