CVE-2026-71847 — Ruby JSON: JSON::ResumableParser#partial_value dereferences a freed input buffer and crashes on truncated duplicate-key streams

Ruby JSON is a JSON implementation for Ruby. From 2.20.0 until 2.21.2, Ruby's JSON native C extension clears the consumed JSON::ResumableParser input buffer but leaves state.start, state.cursor, and state.end pointing into released storage. When partial_value reconstructs an incomplete object containing duplicate keys, the duplicate-key warning path calls cursor_position, which dereferences those stale pointers. This results in a heap-use-after-free and can terminate the Ruby process. An attacker who can supply JSON stream data to an application using JSON::ResumableParser may cause process termination when the application calls partial_value on incomplete attacker-controlled input containing duplicate object keys. This issue has been fixed in version 2.21.2.

Published Aug 7, 2026Updated Aug 7, 2026Sources: cvelistV5, GitHub_M

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the scoring sources call it.

Exploitation

Unreported

no source claims exploitation

EPSS

chance of exploitation in 30 days

Affects

ruby

json

CVSS base

8.7

HIGH

CISA SSVC assessment

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses · SSVC 2.0.3. A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

CISA

Exploitation

PoC

none · proof-of-concept · active

Automatable

Yes

can an attacker script all four kill-chain steps

Technical impact

Partial

partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Affected scope

The catalog records vendors and products as separate lists, not pairs, so which product belongs to which vendor is not something this page can say.

Vendors (1)

ruby

Products (1)

json

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

Score	Version	Severity	Expl.	Impact	Source
8.7	CVSS 4.0	HIGH	—	—	cvelistV5

Weakness & attack patterns

CWE-416

References

1 on the record

github.com/ruby/json/security/advisories/GHSA-9hj4-r449-hfvc
x_refsource_CONFIRM

Elsewhere on this site

rubyevery CVE for this vendor
CWE-416other pages naming this weakness

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.