cJSON JSON Patch Non-Atomic Application Destroys Data Before Validation

MITRE NVD CVE.ORG JSON API

Summary

CVECVE-2026-67217
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerVulnCheck
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-07-29 14:16:35 UTC
Updated2026-07-30 19:07:59 UTC
DescriptioncJSON through 1.7.19 applies RFC 6902 JSON Patch operations non-atomically in apply_patch() in cJSON_Utils.c. For a replace operation that is missing its value member, or a move operation whose destination path cannot be resolved, the existing target member is detached and deleted before the operation is fully validated, so the target document is mutated while cJSONUtils_ApplyPatches() or cJSONUtils_ApplyPatchesCaseSensitive() returns a failure status. An attacker who can supply the patch document can destroy addressable members of the target document even though the API reports that the patch failed, defeating the all-or-nothing behavior callers rely on to reject bad patches.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v4.0 6.9 MEDIUM from [email protected]

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

EPSS: 0.002320000 probability, percentile 0.142380000 (date 2026-08-01)

Problem Types: CWE-696 | CWE-696 Incorrect Behavior Order

VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
4.0[email protected]Secondary6.9MEDIUMCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/C...
4.0CNACVSS6.9MEDIUMCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
3.1[email protected]Secondary5.3MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
3.1CNACVSS5.3MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

CVSS v4.0 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Attack Requirements
None
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None
Sub Conf.
None
Sub Integrity
None
Sub Availability
None

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA DaveGamble CJSON affected 1.7.19 semver Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
joshua.hu/cjson-json-parser-cve-vulnerabilities 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 joshua.hu
www.vulncheck.com/advisories/cjson-json-patch-non-atomic-application-destroys-d... [email protected] www.vulncheck.com
github.com/DaveGamble/cJSON/blob/v1.7.19/cJSON_Utils.c [email protected] github.com
CVE Program record CVE.ORG www.cve.org canonical
NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis

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