7.5
HIGH CVSS 3.1
CVE-2026-56740
JLine: Unauthenticated Remote Memory Exhaustion via Unbounded Telnet NEW-ENVIRON Variables
Description

JLine is a Java library for handling console input. Prior to 3.30.14, 4.0.16, and 4.2.1, the JLine3 Telnet server remote-telnet module does not limit the number of environment variables a client may inject via the Telnet NEW-ENVIRON option, and TelnetIO.readNEVariables() in TelnetIO.java:1127-1180 stores each variable pair in a HashMap held by ConnectionData, allowing an unauthenticated attacker to flood unique variable pairs before the terminating IAC SE byte and exhaust JVM heap memory with an OutOfMemoryError. This issue is fixed in versions 3.30.14, 4.0.16, and 4.2.1.

INFO

Published Date :

July 17, 2026, 10:17 p.m.

Last Modified :

July 17, 2026, 10:17 p.m.

Remotely Exploit :

Yes !
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2026-56740 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

No affected product recoded yet

CVSS Scores
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of vulnerabilities in software and systems. We collect and displays CVSS scores from various sources for each CVE.
Score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Score Impact Score Source
CVSS 3.1 HIGH [email protected]
CVSS 3.1 HIGH MITRE-CVE
Solution
Update JLine3 Telnet server to a patched version to prevent heap memory exhaustion.
  • Update JLine3 to version 3.30.14 or later.
  • Update JLine3 to version 4.0.16 or later.
  • Update JLine3 to version 4.2.1 or later.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-56740 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-56740 weaknesses.

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2026-56740 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2026-56740 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • New CVE Received by [email protected]

    Jul. 17, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Affected [{'vendor': 'jline', 'product': 'jline3', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '< 3.30.14'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '>= 4.0.0, < 4.0.16'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '>= 4.1.0, < 4.2.1'}]}]
    Added Description JLine is a Java library for handling console input. Prior to 3.30.14, 4.0.16, and 4.2.1, the JLine3 Telnet server remote-telnet module does not limit the number of environment variables a client may inject via the Telnet NEW-ENVIRON option, and TelnetIO.readNEVariables() in TelnetIO.java:1127-1180 stores each variable pair in a HashMap held by ConnectionData, allowing an unauthenticated attacker to flood unique variable pairs before the terminating IAC SE byte and exhaust JVM heap memory with an OutOfMemoryError. This issue is fixed in versions 3.30.14, 4.0.16, and 4.2.1.
    Added CVSS V3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
    Added CWE CWE-400
    Added Reference https://github.com/jline/jline3/commit/0389f0ee6d0375901b602671ad5dafd4d1d4ee09
    Added Reference https://github.com/jline/jline3/commit/4ee3a73849ffb9a85ec748e4e8cd8f6d81f84f40
    Added Reference https://github.com/jline/jline3/commit/934f09e6128cee33c2b13d42b6e859c1ee2d194b
    Added Reference https://github.com/jline/jline3/pull/2000
    Added Reference https://github.com/jline/jline3/pull/2001
    Added Reference https://github.com/jline/jline3/releases/tag/4.0.16
    Added Reference https://github.com/jline/jline3/releases/tag/4.2.1
    Added Reference https://github.com/jline/jline3/releases/tag/jline-3.30.14
    Added Reference https://github.com/jline/jline3/security/advisories/GHSA-47qp-hqvx-6r3f
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.