Vulnerability · Published Jul 14, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M

CVE-2026-48038joi: Uncaught RangeError on deeply nested input through recursive `link()` schemas

Medium 5.3

In plain English

A medium-severity security flaw in joi from hapijs. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.5% (higher than 45% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)5.3Medium

Exploit odds (30 days)0.5%top 55.4% of all CVEs

Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none

Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

joi is a schema description language and data validator for JavaScript. Prior to 17.13.4 and 18.2.1, denial of service is possible via an untrapped exception in services validating user-supplied JSON or object input with recursive link() schemas. When validate() is called without try/catch in a request handler, deeply nested input can trigger an unhandled RangeError and potentially crash the process; lower-impact paths using validateAsync() or try/catch produce a RangeError instead of a structured ValidationError. This issue is fixed in versions 17.13.4 and 18.2.1.

Affected packages & fixed versions

Ecosystem	Package	Fixed in	Advisory
npm	joi	18.2.1	GHSA-q7cg-457f-vx79
npm	joi	17.13.4	GHSA-q7cg-457f-vx79

Affected products (as reported)

Vendor	Product	Versions
hapijs	joi	< 17.13.4>= 18.0.0, < 18.2.1

Weakness: CWE-248 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

References

https://github.com/hapijs/joi/security/advisories/GHSA-q7cg-457f-vx79 x_refsource_CONFIRM
https://github.com/hapijs/joi/pull/3113 x_refsource_MISC
https://github.com/hapijs/joi/commit/97bd51de94d595a2d8949eb3bec0dbdd2f8a7a74 x_refsource_MISC
https://github.com/hapijs/joi/commit/fc146a628ab9cc250854407722d9f8738c9548e7 x_refsource_MISC