Vulnerabilities in pkg:nuget/OpenTelemetry.Extensions.Propagators

{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-g94r-2vxg-569j",
  "modified" : "2026-04-23T21:43:54Z",
  "published" : "2026-04-23T21:43:53Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-40894" ],
  "summary" : "OpenTelemetry dotnet: Excessive memory allocation when parsing OpenTelemetry propagation headers",
  "details" : "### Summary\n\nThe implementation details of the baggage, B3 and Jaeger processing code in the `OpenTelemetry.Api` and `OpenTelemetry.Extensions.Propagators` NuGet packages can allocate excessive memory when parsing which could create a potential denial of service (DoS) in the consuming application.\n\n### Details\n\n#### Exceeding Limits\n\n[`BaggagePropagator.Inject<T>()`](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-dotnet/blob/fc1a2864d1665bda857089e11fe9247e3c75637a/src/OpenTelemetry.Api/Context/Propagation/BaggagePropagator.cs#L93-L112) does not enforce the length limit of `8192` characters if the injected baggage contains only one item.\n\nThis change was introduced by #1048.\n\n#### Excessive allocation\n\nThe following methods eagerly allocate intermediate arrays before applying size limits.\n\n- [`BaggagePropagator.Extract<T>()`](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-dotnet/blob/888d1bf2489fb7408d3c5e8758a5bbffa89a8fb2/src/OpenTelemetry.Api/Context/Propagation/BaggagePropagator.cs#L52-L55) - this change was introduced by #1048.\n- [`BaggagePropagator.Inject<T>()`](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-dotnet/blob/888d1bf2489fb7408d3c5e8758a5bbffa89a8fb2/src/OpenTelemetry.Api/Context/Propagation/BaggagePropagator.cs#L138-L157) - this change was introduced by #1048.\n- [`B3Propagator.Extract<T>()`](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-dotnet/blob/888d1bf2489fb7408d3c5e8758a5bbffa89a8fb2/src/OpenTelemetry.Extensions.Propagators/B3Propagator.cs#L203-L207) - this change was introduced by #533.\n- [`B3Propagator.Extract<T>()`](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-dotnet/blob/888d1bf2489fb7408d3c5e8758a5bbffa89a8fb2/src/OpenTelemetry.Api/Context/Propagation/B3Propagator.cs#L204-L214) - this change was introduced by #3244.\n- [`JaegerPropagator.Extract<T>()`](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-dotnet/blob/888d1bf2489fb7408d3c5e8758a5bbffa89a8fb2/src/OpenTelemetry.Extensions.Propagators/JaegerPropagator.cs#L150-L154) - this change was introduced by #3309.\n\n### Impact\n\nExcessively large propagation headers, particularly in degenerate/malformed cases that consist or large numbers of delimiter characters, can allocate excessive amounts of memory for intermediate storage of parsed content relative to the size of the original input.\n\n### Mitigation\n\nHTTP servers often set maximum limits on the length of HTTP request headers, such as [Internet Information Services (IIS)](https://learn.microsoft.com/iis/configuration/system.webserver/security/requestfiltering/requestlimits/headerlimits/) which sets a default limit of 16KB and [nginx](https://nginx.org/docs/http/ngx_http_core_module.html#large_client_header_buffers) which sets a default limit of 8KB.\n\n### Workarounds\n\nPossible workarounds include:\n\n- Configuring appropriate HTTP request header limits.\n- Disabling baggage and/or trace propagation.\n\n### Remediation\n\n[#7061](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-dotnet/pull/7061) refactors the handling of baggage, B3 and Jaeger propagation headers to stop parsing eagerly when limits are exceeded and avoid allocating intermediate arrays.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "NuGet",
      "name" : "OpenTelemetry.Api"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0.5.0-beta.2"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "1.15.3"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "NuGet",
      "name" : "OpenTelemetry.Extensions.Propagators"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "1.3.1"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "1.15.3"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-dotnet/security/advisories/GHSA-g94r-2vxg-569j"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-40894"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-dotnet/pull/1048"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-dotnet/pull/3244"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-dotnet/pull/3309"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-dotnet/pull/3533"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-dotnet/pull/533"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-dotnet/pull/7061"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-dotnet"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-dotnet/releases/tag/core-1.15.3"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-789" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-04-23T21:43:53Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-04-23T19:17:28Z"
  }
}