High severity · published Sep 16, 2026
CVE-2026-81875
HAPI FHIR: SHCParser unbounded DEFLATE decompression causes denial of service
7.5
CVSS
0.6%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
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 consume attacker-controlled Smart Health Card JWT content whose header contains zip: "DEF" and whose small raw-DEFLATE payload expands to a very large value. SHCParser.decodeJWT() passes the decoded payload to SHCParser.inflate(), which accumulates all decompressed bytes in a ByteArrayOutputStream without an output-size limit before JSON parsing, and SHCParser.decompress() contains the same unbounded pattern. An application or validator service that accepts attacker-supplied SHC content can therefore suffer excessive heap allocation, severe garbage-collection pressure, request failure, process instability, or process termination. This issue is fixed in version 6.9.12.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.6% · higher than 50% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
OR
org.hl7.fhir.core · hapifhir
< 6.9.12 · source: vendor
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-81875
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-81875
github.com
https://github.com/hapifhir/org.hl7.fhir.core/commit/fbb94216e0ad21ded75be77e5e20242ba194e83f
github.com
https://github.com/hapifhir/org.hl7.fhir.core/pull/2493
github.com
https://github.com/hapifhir/org.hl7.fhir.core/releases/tag/6.9.11
github.com
https://github.com/hapifhir/org.hl7.fhir.core/releases/tag/6.9.12
github.com
https://github.com/hapifhir/org.hl7.fhir.core/security/advisories/GHSA-3w98-rrpr-fprr
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