CVE-2026-39956

Public on 2026-04-13
Modified on 2026-04-15
Description
jq is a command-line JSON processor. In commits after 69785bf77f86e2ea1b4a20ca86775916889e91c9, the _strindices builtin in jq's src/builtin.c passes its arguments directly to jv_string_indexes() without verifying they are strings, and jv_string_indexes() in src/jv.c relies solely on assert() checks that are stripped in release builds compiled with -DNDEBUG. This allows an attacker to crash jq trivially with input like _strindices(0), and by crafting a numeric value whose IEEE-754 bit pattern maps to a chosen pointer, achieve a controlled pointer dereference and limited memory read/probe primitive. Any deployment that evaluates untrusted jq filters against a release build is vulnerable. This issue has been patched in commit fdf8ef0f0810e3d365cdd5160de43db46f57ed03.
Severity
Medium severity
Medium
See what this means
CVSS v3 Base Score
6.1
See breakdown

Affected Packages

Platform Package Release Date Advisory Status
Amazon Linux 2 - Core jq Pending Fix
Amazon Linux 2023 jq Pending Fix

CVSS Scores

Score Type Score Vector
Amazon Linux CVSSv3 6.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H