CVE-2026-115397 in Ghidra
Summary
by MITRE • 10/23/2026
Ghidra before 12.2 contains a resource allocation without limits vulnerability in ExtensionUtils.unzipToInstallationFolder() that extracts every extension ZIP entry without limiting file count. Attackers who persuade a user to install a crafted extension archive with many files can exhaust filesystem inodes, causing project writes and other processes to fail.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/23/2026
The Ghidra software development framework, prior to version 12.2, contains a critical resource allocation vulnerability within the ExtensionUtils.unzipToInstallationFolder() method that allows for uncontrolled consumption of system resources. This flaw stems from an implementation oversight where the application extracts every entry contained within a user-provided extension ZIP archive without imposing any limits on the total number of files or directories created during the extraction process. In standard software engineering practices, input validation and resource management are essential safeguards against denial-of-service conditions; however, in this specific context, the lack of constraints means that an attacker can craft a maliciously constructed ZIP file containing thousands or even millions of empty or small files to trigger excessive disk I/O operations and inode consumption on the target system.
From a technical perspective, this vulnerability is classified under CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling, which describes scenarios where an application fails to restrict the amount of resources consumed by external inputs. The operational impact is severe for local users who are tricked into installing such crafted extensions through social engineering tactics. When a victim installs this malicious archive, the extraction process rapidly consumes available inodes on the filesystem. Inode exhaustion prevents the operating system from creating new files or directories, which can lead to widespread failures across various applications and services that rely on file creation for normal operation. This effectively results in a denial of service condition not just for Ghidra but potentially for other processes running on the same machine, as they may fail when attempting to write logs, temporary data, or configuration files due to the lack of available filesystem metadata structures.
This attack vector aligns with MITRE ATT&CK technique T1496: Resource Hijacking, specifically under the sub-technique for Denial of Service via resource exhaustion. An adversary would typically need to persuade a user to install a seemingly legitimate but maliciously crafted extension archive, leveraging social engineering to bypass security awareness. Once installed, the background extraction process silently consumes system resources without immediate feedback to the user until the filesystem becomes unresponsive or applications begin crashing due to file creation errors. The severity of this vulnerability is heightened by its potential for automated abuse and the difficulty in detecting such attacks through traditional signature-based detection methods, as the malicious payload consists entirely of benign-looking ZIP entries rather than executable code.
To mitigate this risk, users must upgrade Ghidra to version 12.2 or later, where the developers have implemented proper limits on the number of files that can be extracted from an extension archive. For organizations deploying Ghidra in controlled environments, it is advisable to enforce strict application whitelisting policies and restrict user privileges to prevent unauthorized installation of third-party extensions. Additionally, system administrators should monitor inode usage on partitions where Ghidra stores its data and configure alerts for rapid depletion trends. Implementing file count limits at the operating system level or using containerization with resource quotas can also provide an additional layer of defense against similar exploitation attempts in future versions if such vulnerabilities reappear.