OpenTelemetry Python up to 1.45.0 TraceContextTextMapPropagator span.py TraceState.from_header resource consumption

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as problematic has been reported in OpenTelemetry Python up to 1.45.0. This affects the function TraceState.from_header of the file opentelemetry/trace/span.py of the component TraceContextTextMapPropagator. This manipulation causes resource consumption. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-114603. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. No exploit exists. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in OpenTelemetry Python up to 1.45.0 and classified as problematic. Affected by this vulnerability is the function TraceState.from_header of the file opentelemetry/trace/span.py of the component TraceContextTextMapPropagator. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a resource consumption vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-400. The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource, thereby enabling an actor to influence the amount of resources consumed, eventually leading to the exhaustion of available resources. As an impact it is known to affect availability. The summary by CVE is:

OpenTelemetry Python provides the Python API and SDK for OpenTelemetry. Prior to 1.45.1, the opentelemetry-api function TraceState.from_header in opentelemetry/trace/span.py, reached through TraceContextTextMapPropagator.extract, parses inbound W3C tracestate headers with an unbounded optional-whitespace regular expression. A malformed header containing a long run of spaces or tabs without a following comma causes quadratic backtracking before the member-count limit is applied. Services using the default W3C Trace Context propagator can therefore spend excessive CPU time on one unauthenticated request when the HTTP server, parser, gateway, or custom carrier accepts a sufficiently large header. The processing can occupy a synchronous worker or delay unrelated requests on the same asynchronous event loop. The impact is limited to availability and does not expose or modify telemetry data or allow code execution. This issue is fixed in version 1.45.1.

The advisory is shared at github.com. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-114603 since 10/21/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be launched remotely. The exploitation doesn't need any form of authentication. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1499 for this issue.

Upgrading to version 1.45.1 eliminates this vulnerability.

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Productinfo

Type

• Programming Language Software

Vendor

• OpenTelemetry

Name

• Python

Version

• 1.0
• 1.1
• 1.2
• 1.3
• 1.4
• 1.5
• 1.6
• 1.7
• 1.8
• 1.9
• 1.10
• 1.11
• 1.12
• 1.13
• 1.14
• 1.15
• 1.16
• 1.17
• 1.18
• 1.19
• 1.20
• 1.21
• 1.22
• 1.23
• 1.24
• 1.25
• 1.26
• 1.27
• 1.28
• 1.29
• 1.30
• 1.31
• 1.32
• 1.33
• 1.34
• 1.35
• 1.36
• 1.37
• 1.38
• 1.39
• 1.40
• 1.41
• 1.42
• 1.43
• 1.44
• 1.45.0

License

• open-source

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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