CVE-2026-100138 in C2PA Tool
Summary
by MITRE • 10/13/2026
CAI Content Credentials is affected by an Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability that could lead to application denial-of-service. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to exhaust system resources, resulting in an application denial-of-service condition. Exploitation of this issue does not require user interaction.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/14/2026
The CAI Content Credentials software contains a critical flaw classified as Uncontrolled Resource Consumption, which poses a significant risk to the stability and availability of systems relying on its functionality. This vulnerability stems from an inability within the application logic to properly limit or monitor the amount of computational resources consumed during specific operations. When triggered, this defect allows for the excessive allocation of memory, CPU cycles, or other system assets without appropriate bounds checks or throttling mechanisms in place. The root cause typically involves processing inputs that are either malformed, unexpectedly large, or designed specifically to trigger inefficient algorithmic paths within the credential verification or metadata handling processes. Because the software does not implement effective resource quotas or timeout controls for these operations, a single request can consume disproportionate amounts of system capacity relative to its intended function.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability directly impacts the availability component of the CIA triad by enabling denial-of-service conditions. An attacker who gains access to the affected service endpoint or interface can exploit this flaw without requiring any prior authentication or user interaction. This lack of required user engagement significantly lowers the barrier for exploitation, allowing even unauthenticated adversaries to launch attacks against the system. By repeatedly sending crafted requests that trigger the resource exhaustion logic, an adversary can deplete available memory pools or saturate CPU resources on the host server. As these resources are consumed by malicious processes, legitimate users and services experience degraded performance or complete service outages as the application becomes unresponsive due to lack of available computing power.
This type of vulnerability is formally categorized under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption in standard security taxonomies. It aligns with ATT&CK technique T1496, which covers Resource Hijacking and Denial of Service via resource exhaustion. The absence of input validation regarding size limits or complexity constraints allows the application to be forced into states where it cannot efficiently manage its internal state. In environments where CAI Content Credentials is used for verifying provenance data in digital media or software supply chains, such outages can disrupt critical workflows and compromise trust mechanisms that depend on timely verification responses. The impact extends beyond simple downtime; prolonged resource exhaustion may lead to system crashes requiring manual intervention to restore service, thereby increasing operational costs and reducing overall reliability.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability must focus on implementing robust input validation and resource management controls at the application layer. Developers should enforce strict limits on the size of incoming requests and metadata payloads processed by CAI Content Credentials. Implementing rate limiting can also help mitigate the impact of repeated exploitation attempts by capping the number of requests a single source can make within a given timeframe. Additionally, integrating timeout mechanisms ensures that any operation exceeding a predefined duration is terminated before it can consume excessive resources. Upgrading to patched versions of the software where these controls have been applied is the primary remediation path for organizations currently running vulnerable instances. Security teams should also monitor system metrics such as memory usage and CPU load for anomalies indicative of resource exhaustion attacks, enabling rapid detection and response to potential exploitation attempts in real-time environments.