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Amazon Ion Python EUVDEUVD-2026-91059

| CVE-2026-104020 HIGH
Uncontrolled Recursion (CWE-674)
2026-10-01 AMZN
8.7
CVSS 4.0 · Vendor: AMZN
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Identify service parsing untrusted Ion input
  2. Delivery
    Craft deeply nested Ion value
  3. Exploit
    Submit payload over network
  4. Execution
    Trigger uncontrolled recursion in Ion reader
  5. Persist
    Exhaust stack and crash application
  6. Impact
    Denial of service

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Recursion depth limits
Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation requires that the target application use Amazon Ion Python before 0.15.0 to parse Ion data that originates from an untrusted/attacker-controlled source - the crafted deeply nested Ion value must reach the Ion reader. The limiting factor is exposure: an application that only parses trusted, internally generated Ion is not realistically exploitable, so the practical attack surface is services that accept and deserialize client-supplied Ion input. No authentication, user interaction, or special non-default configuration is otherwise needed (PR:N/UI:N), and the fix in v0.15.0 caps container nesting past the recursion limit by raising an IonException instead of crashing.

Impact

This is a CWE-674 uncontrolled-recursion denial-of-service flaw with an availability-only impact. The vendor-supplied CVSS 4.0 vector (AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H) indicates a network-reachable, low-complexity, unauthenticated attack with no confidentiality or integrity impact - only availability (VA:H), consistent with a crash/DoS rather than code execution. There is no EPSS score, no CISA KEV listing, and no public proof-of-concept in the provided data, so there is no public exploit identified at time of analysis and no evidence of active exploitation. The 8.7 'high' CVSS 4.0 score is driven almost entirely by the unauthenticated network vector combined with high availability impact; however, real-world risk is tempered by the fact that the impact is limited to crashing the application (no data loss or RCE) and that exploitation requires the target application to parse attacker-controlled Ion data. Net assessment: a legitimately exploitable but single-dimension (availability) issue - prioritize patching for any service that deserializes untrusted Ion input, but it is not a critical RCE-class emergency. The absence of EPSS/KEV/POC signals suggests this is currently a theoretical-to-low real-world exploitation priority rather than an actively weaponized threat.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An attacker identifies a network-facing service that uses Amazon Ion Python (<0.15.0) to parse Ion-formatted input it receives from clients. The attacker submits a crafted Ion value with extreme nesting depth, triggering uncontrolled recursion in the Ion reader that exhausts the stack and crashes the process, denying service to legitimate users. No authentication or user interaction is required, but no public PoC was identified in the provided data.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
Patch available 0.4% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Oct 01, 2026

Denial of service in Amazon Ion Python before 0.15.0 allows remote, unauthenticated attackers to crash applications that parse attacker-supplied Ion data by submitting a deeply nested Ion value that exhausts the interpreter's recursion stack. The flaw is availability-only (CWE-674 uncontrolled recursion) and requires the target service to route untrusted Ion input into the Ion reader; applications that only parse trusted, internally generated Ion are not realistically exposed, and no authentication, user interaction, or non-default configuration is needed otherwise (PR:N/UI:N). No public exploit code was identified at time of analysis and there is no indication of confirmed active exploitation (not listed in CISA KEV); the vendor fix in 0.15.0 caps container nesting past the recursion limit and surfaces the condition as an IonException instead of an uncontrolled crash.

RemediationAI

Upgrade to Amazon Ion Python 0.15.0 or later - the vendor-released fix (PR #448, included in the v0.15.0 release at https://github.com/amazon-ion/ion-python/releases/tag/v0.15.0) reports container nesting past the recursion limit as an IonException rather than allowing a stack-exhaustion crash; confirm the post-upgrade version with 'pip show amazon.ion' or equivalent and rebuild any pinned dependency lockfiles. If an immediate upgrade is not possible, apply compensating controls knowing their trade-offs: reject or truncate request bodies containing excessively long runs of container open/close tokens at the API gateway or reverse proxy (efficient, but may block legitimately deep or large documents), validate nesting depth of untrusted Ion with a lightweight pre-scan before handing payloads to the Ion reader (adds CPU cost and can miss exotic encodings if the pre-scan is naively implemented), and isolate Ion parsing of untrusted input in a separate worker process or sandbox that is supervised and auto-restarted, with memory and CPU ceilings (contains a crash to the worker but adds operational complexity and latency). AWS's advisory at https://aws.amazon.com/security/security-bulletins/2026-122-aws/ should be consulted for any additional vendor guidance. No public exploit code was identified at time of analysis, so prioritization should focus on internet-facing services that accept client-supplied Ion.

Affected VersionsENISA

ion-python 0 <0.15.0

Affected Packages

euvd ion_python fix: 0.15.0

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 1 package in euvd

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

Amazon Ion is a richly typed, self-describing data serialization format (a JSON superset with text and compact binary encodings) maintained by AWS, and ion-python is the reference Python implementation of its reader/writer stack. The affected component is the Ion reader, which parses container types - lists, sexps, and structs - using recursive descent; each level of container nesting consumes another frame on the Python call stack. Because nesting depth is attacker-controlled and effectively unbounded in the input, a crafted document with very deep container nesting drives the reader past the interpreter's recursion limit, producing a stack-exhaustion failure (CWE-674, uncontrolled recursion) that terminates or destabilizes the host process. The fix in v0.15.0 (PR #448, 'Report container nesting past the recursion limit as IonException') converts that unhandled stack exhaustion into a controlled, catchable IonException, letting applications reject hostile documents and continue running. Affected code is identified by CPE cpe:2.3:a:amazon:ion-python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* and by ENISA EUVD as ion-python 0 <0.15.0, i.e. every release up to and including 0.14.6. Scoring is consistent across sources: NVD-style CVSS 4.0 8.7 (AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N) and the independent assessment's CVSS 3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H, both reflecting availability-only impact with no confidentiality or integrity loss.

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Severity by source

Vendor (AMZN) PRIMARY 8.7 HIGH
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
vuln.today AI 7.5 HIGH

Remote unauthenticated parsing of crafted input (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N) causing only a crash yields A:H with C:N/I:N and unchanged scope.

3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Primary rating from Vendor (AMZN).

CVSS VectorVendor: AMZN

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Attack Requirements
None
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Vulnerable system: Confidentiality
None
Vulnerable system: Integrity
None
Vulnerable system: Availability
High
Subsequent system: Confidentiality
None
Subsequent system: Integrity
None
Subsequent system: Availability
None

Lifecycle Timeline

2
CVSS changed
Oct 01, 2026 - 21:22 NVD
7.5 (HIGH) 8.7 (HIGH)
CVE Published
Oct 01, 2026 - 20:36 cve.org
HIGH 8.7

DescriptionCVE.org

Uncontrolled recursion in the Ion reader in Amazon Ion Python before 0.15.0 might allow a remote unauthenticated actor to crash the application using the library, resulting in a denial of service, via a crafted, deeply nested Ion value.

To remediate this issue, users should upgrade to version 0.15.0 or later.

Technical POC Analysis

CWE-674 (Uncontrolled Recursion).

Full technical POC analysis - root cause, step-by-step exploitation and patch breakdown - is part of the Pro and Business plans.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

Amazon Ion Python releases before 0.15.0 expose organizations to service crashes when applications parse untrusted Ion data, affecting availability for customer-facing, partner-integrated, or multi-tenant services that accept external payloads. The issue is remotely reachable by unauthenticated users, and no public exploit identified at time of analysis. Leadership should care because repeated parser crashes can interrupt revenue-generating services, trigger incident response, and damage customer confidence if exposed systems are not promptly upgraded.

Business Impact: High
Compensating Controls

Apply vendor patch.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.4%
Top 64% exploitable
Prevalence
Low
niche Amazon Ion serialization library, limited to Ion-adopting services
Social Media
3
Sightings
Data Quality
6 sources
Confidence: High

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity HIGH
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.4%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision
Scheduled
Exploitation
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable
Yes
Human Impact
High
Technical Impact
Partial

Priority Score

44
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +44
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.

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