CVE-2026-81876 PUBLISHED

HAPI FHIR: SHCParser DEFLATE infinite loop causes denial of service

Assigner: GitHub_M
Reserved: 27.08.2026 Published: 16.09.2026 Updated: 16.09.2026

HAPI FHIR is a complete implementation of the HL7 FHIR standard for healthcare interoperability in Java. Prior to version 6.9.12, SHCParser in org.hl7.fhir.r5/src/main/java/org/hl7/fhir/r5/elementmodel/SHCParser.java can enter an infinite loop while processing attacker-controlled Smart Health Card JWT content whose header contains zip: "DEF" and whose raw-DEFLATE payload is empty or truncated. SHCParser.decodeJWT() reaches SHCParser.inflate(), where Inflater.inflate() can return zero while Inflater.finished() remains false and Inflater.needsInput() is true. The loop also lacks an Inflater.needsDictionary() termination check, SHCParser.decompress() contains the same zero-progress pattern, and ResourceChecker.java can reach SHC parsing during file-format detection. A malformed validation request can pin a JVM worker thread indefinitely, and concurrent requests can exhaust all validation workers. This issue is fixed in version 6.9.12.

Metrics

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS Score: 7.5

Product Status

Vendor hapifhir
Product org.hl7.fhir.core
Versions
  • Version < 6.9.12 is affected

References

Problem Types

  • CWE-20: Improper Input Validation CWE
  • CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption CWE
  • CWE-835: Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop') CWE