OpenTelemetry-Go: UTF-8 replacement rune bypasses attribute length truncation

CISA KEV is observed exploitation evidence. FIRST EPSS is a dated prediction of exploitation in the next 30 days. Missing scores are unknown. This collector requests predictions only for explicit CVE aliases in the public NuGet archive; Microsoft release views retain their existing prediction scope.

No collected risk observation for these identifiers. This does not establish absence of exploitation or a zero probability.

OpenTelemetry-Go is the Go implementation of OpenTelemetry. From version 1.10.0 until 1.33.0, the sdk/trace/span.go attribute truncation path can fail to enforce AttributeValueLengthLimit for string and string-slice attributes containing the valid Unicode replacement character U+FFFD. safeTruncateValidUTF8 treats the valid replacement rune as invalid UTF-8 and returns the original input, while strings.ToValidUTF8 leaves that valid rune unchanged, so a second safeTruncate attempt can also return the oversized value. An attacker who controls span attribute content can retain values longer than the configured limit, increasing per-span memory use and weakening denial-of-service protection in the instrumented process. This issue is fixed in version 1.33.0.

Source published

16 Sep 2026 20:41:15 UTC

Source modified

17 Sep 2026 14:15:51 UTC

Observed here

23 Oct 2026 15:48:27 UTC

Source terms

CVE Program Terms of Use

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: cve-program · CVE Program Terms of Use. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS 4.0 · 5.1 CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

OpenTelemetry-Go is the Go implementation of OpenTelemetry. From version 1.10.0 until 1.33.0, the sdk/trace/span.go attribute truncation path can fail to enforce AttributeValueLengthLimit for string and string-slice attributes containing the valid Unicode replacement character U+FFFD. safeTruncateValidUTF8 treats the valid replacement rune as invalid UTF-8 and returns the original input, while strings.ToValidUTF8 leaves that valid rune unchanged, so a second safeTruncate attempt can also return the oversized value. An attacker who controls span attribute content can retain values longer than the configured limit, increasing per-span memory use and weakening denial-of-service protection in the instrumented process. This issue is fixed in version 1.33.0.

Source published

Sep 16, 2026, 8:41:15 PM (timezone not stated)

Source modified

Sep 17, 2026, 2:15:51 PM (timezone not stated)

Observed here

11 Nov 2026 16:10:29 UTC

Source terms

ENISA EUVD · source terms and attribution apply

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: euvd · ENISA EUVD · source terms and attribution apply. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

EUVD CVSS 4.0 · 5.1 CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

OpenTelemetry-Go is the Go implementation of OpenTelemetry. From version 1.10.0 until 1.33.0, the sdk/trace/span.go attribute truncation path can fail to enforce AttributeValueLengthLimit for string and string-slice attributes containing the valid Unicode replacement character U+FFFD. safeTruncateValidUTF8 treats the valid replacement rune as invalid UTF-8 and returns the original input, while strings.ToValidUTF8 leaves that valid rune unchanged, so a second safeTruncate attempt can also return the oversized value. An attacker who controls span attribute content can retain values longer than the configured limit, increasing per-span memory use and weakening denial-of-service protection in the instrumented process. This issue is fixed in version 1.33.0.

Source published

16 Sep 2026 21:17:22 UTC

Source modified

30 Sep 2026 17:43:24 UTC

Observed here

25 Oct 2026 16:19:10 UTC

Source terms

NIST NVD usage terms; underlying source attribution retained

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: nvd · NIST NVD usage terms; underlying source attribution retained. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS 4.0 · [email protected] · Secondary · 5.1 CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

### Summary The OpenTelemetry Go SDK trace package can fail to enforce `AttributeValueLengthLimit` for string attributes containing the valid Unicode replacement character U+FFFD. An oversized attacker-controlled attribute value that includes U+FFFD is returned untruncated, bypassing the configured memory/DoS protection and allowing increased per-span memory usage. The finding is low severity because it requires a deployment with attribute value length limits enabled and attacker-controlled data being recorded into span attributes. Introduced in commit 49a6536 ### Details String and string-slice span attributes are truncated through `safeTruncate` when `AttributeValueLengthLimit` is non-negative. The finding evidence identifies this enforcement path in `sdk/trace/span.go:303-331`, with string attributes passed to `safeTruncate` at `sdk/trace/span.go:309-310` and string-slice entries passed to `safeTruncate` in the loop beginning at `sdk/trace/span.go:312`. `safeTruncate` first calls `safeTruncateValidUTF8`; if that returns `ok=false`, it calls `strings.ToValidUTF8(input, "")` and retries. The relevant code is identified in `sdk/trace/span.go:337-355`. `safeTruncateValidUTF8` treats any `utf8.RuneError` from `utf8.DecodeRuneInString` as invalid UTF-8 and immediately returns the original input with `ok=false`. However, Go also returns `utf8.RuneError` for a valid encoded U+FFFD rune. The validation artifact confirms this behavior with output `r=U+FFFD size=3 runeError=true`. For an input such as `"AAAA" + U+FFFD + strings.Repeat("B", 20)` and a limit of 5, the first truncation attempt sees U+FFFD as `utf8.RuneError` and returns the full input with `ok=false`. `strings.ToValidUTF8` does not remove the valid U+FFFD rune, so the second attempt returns the same full input. As a result, the span attribute value remains 27 bytes long even though the configured limit is 5. ### PoC [validation-artifact.zip](https://github.com/user-attachments/files/27494267/validation-artifact.zip) The validation artifact contains a package-level Go test at `validation-artifact.tar:safe_truncate_bypass/safe_truncate_poc_test.go` and supporting output at `validation-artifact.tar:safe_truncate_bypass/runecheck_output.txt`. Reproduction configuration: - Repository: `pellared/opentelemetry-go` - Commit: `49a6536` from September 12, 2022 - Package/module path: `sdk/trace` under the `sdk` module - Attribute value length limit used by the PoC: `limit := 5` - Dependencies must be available through the network or a local module cache/vendor directory. Commands: ```sh cd /path/to/opentelemetry-go git checkout 49a6536 tar -xOf /path/to/validation-artifact.tar safe_truncate_bypass/safe_truncate_poc_test.go > sdk/trace/safe_truncate_poc_test.go cd sdk go test ./trace -run TestSafeTruncateBypass -count=1 -v ``` Expected vulnerable output includes a failing test showing that the returned value exceeds the configured limit: ```text === RUN TestSafeTruncateBypass safe_truncate_poc_test.go:14: input_len=27 got_len=27 input="AAAA�BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB" got="AAAA�BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB" safe_truncate_poc_test.go:16: bypass: got_len 27 > limit 5 --- FAIL: TestSafeTruncateBypass ``` The artifact also records the standalone UTF-8 behavior needed for the bypass: ```sh tar -xOf /path/to/validation-artifact.tar safe_truncate_bypass/runecheck_output.txt ``` Expected output: ```text r=U+FFFD size=3 runeError=true ``` ### Impact This is a Unicode handling and resource-limit bypass that weakens span attribute memory controls. Applications that enable `AttributeValueLengthLimit` to bound memory usage can still store oversized attacker-controlled attribute values if those values contain U+FFFD. The practical impact is increased memory use and reduced denial-of-service protection in the instrumented process; the finding does not show confidentiality or integrity impact.

Source published

29 Sep 2026 17:59:10 UTC

Source modified

1 Oct 2026 20:56:23 UTC

Observed here

24 Oct 2026 13:19:41 UTC

Source terms

GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: osv · GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS_V4 · CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Publisher rating · MODERATE

OpenTelemetry-Go: UTF-8 replacement rune bypasses attribute length truncation in go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk

Source published

1 Oct 2026 20:24:10 UTC

Source modified

1 Oct 2026 20:45:17 UTC

Observed here

24 Oct 2026 13:19:41 UTC

Source terms

OSV · upstream source license applies

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: osv · OSV · upstream source license applies. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.