Summary
[!IMPORTANT]
There is no plan to fix this issue as OpenTelemetry.Exporter.Jaeger was deprecated in 2023. It is for informational purposes only.
OpenTelemetry.Exporter.Jaeger may allow sustained memory pressure when the internal pooled-list sizing grows based on a large observed span/tag set and that enlarged size is reused for subsequent allocations. Under high-cardinality or attacker-influenced telemetry input, this can increase memory consumption and potentially cause denial of service.
Details
The Jaeger exporter conversion path can append tag/event data into pooled list structures. In affected versions, pooled allocation sizing may be influenced by large observed payloads and reused globally across later allocations, resulting in persistent oversized rentals and elevated memory pressure. In environments where telemetry attributes/events can be influenced by untrusted input and limits are increased from defaults, this may lead to process instability or denial of service.
Workarounds / Mitigations
- Prefer maintained exporters (for example OpenTelemetry Protocol format (OTLP)) instead of the Jaeger exporter.
Impact
Availability impact only. Confidentiality and integrity impacts are not expected.
Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service. Typical impact: denial of service.
CVE-2026-41078 has a CVSS score of 5.9 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. No fixed version is listed yet, so configuration controls and monitoring matter more in the interim.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
Remediation advice
In the interim: Apply input size limits and request rate limiting. Reject input that exceeds reasonable bounds before processing begins.
Kodem Kai can prioritize this vulnerability in your dependency tree and generate a fix recommendation.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2026-41078? CVE-2026-41078 is a medium-severity uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in OpenTelemetry.Exporter.Jaeger (nuget), affecting versions <= 1.6.0-rc.1. No fixed version is listed yet. Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service.
- How severe is CVE-2026-41078? CVE-2026-41078 has a CVSS score of 5.9 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Which versions of OpenTelemetry.Exporter.Jaeger are affected by CVE-2026-41078? OpenTelemetry.Exporter.Jaeger (nuget) versions <= 1.6.0-rc.1 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2026-41078? No fixed version is listed for CVE-2026-41078 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates and apply mitigations in the interim.
- Is CVE-2026-41078 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-41078 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2026-41078 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2026-41078? No fixed version is listed yet. In the interim: Apply input size limits and request rate limiting. Reject input that exceeds reasonable bounds before processing begins.