GHSA-rvv3-g6hj-g44x
AutoMapper Vulnerable to Denial of Service (DoS) via Uncontrolled Recursion
Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| NuGet | AutoMapper | >= 16.0.0, < 16.1.1 | 16.1.1 |
| NuGet | AutoMapper | < 15.1.1 | 15.1.1 |
Details
As written in the advisory (Markdown source, shown as plain text).
### Summary
AutoMapper is vulnerable to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. When mapping deeply nested object graphs, the library uses recursive method calls without enforcing a default maximum depth limit. This allows an attacker to provide a specially crafted object graph that exhausts the thread's stack memory, triggering a `StackOverflowException` and causing the entire application process to terminate.
### Description
The vulnerability exists in the core mapping engine. When a source object contains a property of the same type (or a type that eventually points back to itself), AutoMapper recursively attempts to map each level.
Because there is no default limit on how many levels deep this recursion can go, a sufficiently nested object (approximately 25,000+ levels in standard .NET environments) will exceed the stack size. Since `StackOverflowException` cannot be caught in modern .NET runtimes, the application cannot recover and will crash immediately.
### Impact
* **Availability:** An attacker can crash the application server, leading to a complete Denial of Service.
* **Process Termination:** Unlike standard exceptions, this terminates the entire process, not just the individual request thread.
### Proof of Concept (PoC)
The following C# code demonstrates the crash by creating a nested "Circular" object graph and attempting to map it:
```csharp
class Circular { public Circular Self { get; set; } }
// Setup configuration
var config = new MapperConfiguration(cfg => {
cfg.CreateMap<Circular, Circular>();
});
var mapper = config.CreateMapper();
// Create a deeply nested object (28,000+ levels)
var root = new Circular();
var current = root;
for (int i = 0; i < 30000; i++) {
current.Self = new Circular();
current = current.Self;
}
// This call triggers the StackOverflowException and crashes the process
mapper.Map<Circular>(root);
```
### Recommended Mitigation
1. **Secure Defaults:** Implement a default `MaxDepth` (e.g., 32 or 64) for all mapping operations.
2. **Configurable Limit:** Allow users to increase this limit if necessary, but ensure it is enabled by default to protect unsuspecting developers.
References
External links from the advisory. They lead to third-party sites.
- https://github.com/LuckyPennySoftware/AutoMapper/security/advisories/GHSA-rvv3-g6hj-g44x
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-32933
- https://github.com/LuckyPennySoftware/AutoMapper/commit/0afaf1e91648fca1a57512e94dd00a76ee016816
- https://github.com/LuckyPennySoftware/AutoMapper
- https://github.com/LuckyPennySoftware/AutoMapper/discussions/4624
- https://github.com/LuckyPennySoftware/AutoMapper/releases/tag/v15.1.1
- https://github.com/LuckyPennySoftware/AutoMapper/releases/tag/v16.1.1