CVE-2026-48038

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.

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.

Impact

Denial of service via untrapped exception in services validating user-supplied JSON / object input with recursive link schemas.

The blast radius depends on how the application invokes joi:

• Highest impact: validate() called without try/catch in a request handler would cause an unhandled exception, potentially crashing the process.
• Lower impact: validateAsync() or validate() inside a try/catch, the validation fails, but the error type is RangeError rather than a structured ValidationError, complicating error handling.

Patches

Upgrade to version >= 18.2.1.

Workarounds

Try/catch the validation to avoid uncaught exceptions.

References

• Pull request: hapijs/joi#3113

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.

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.

Impact

Denial of service via untrapped exception in services validating user-supplied JSON / object input with recursive link schemas.

The blast radius depends on how the application invokes joi:

• Highest impact: validate() called without try/catch in a request handler would cause an unhandled exception, potentially crashing the process.
• Lower impact: validateAsync() or validate() inside a try/catch, the validation fails, but the error type is RangeError rather than a structured ValidationError, complicating error handling.

Patches

Upgrade to version >= 18.2.1.

Workarounds

Try/catch the validation to avoid uncaught exceptions.

References

• Pull request: hapijs/joi#3113

TuxCare rebuilt @hapi/joi to address 3 CVEs. Fixed in 16.1.8-tuxcare.2.

Root has patched CVE-2026-48038 in the joi package for Root:npm. Multiple fixed versions available.