Monitor vulnerabilities like this one.
Sign up free to get alerted when software you use is affected.
9.1
ChilliCream GraphQL Platform: Deep GraphQL Document Causes Worker Crash
GHSA-qr3m-xw4c-jqw3
CVE-2026-40324
Summary
A specific type of complex GraphQL document can crash the service running ChilliCream GraphQL Platform, causing it to restart. This can happen with a small payload of just 40 KB. To fix, update to the latest version of ChilliCream GraphQL Platform, which includes a new setting to prevent such crashes.
What to do
- Update hotchocolate.language to version 12.22.7.
- Update hotchocolate.language to version 13.9.16.
- Update hotchocolate.language to version 14.3.1.
- Update hotchocolate.language to version 15.1.14.
Affected software
| Ecosystem | Vendor | Product | Affected versions |
|---|---|---|---|
| nuget | – | hotchocolate.language |
< 12.22.7 >= 13.0.0, < 13.9.16 >= 14.0.0, < 14.3.1 >= 15.0.0, < 15.1.14 Fix: upgrade to 12.22.7
|
Original title
ChilliCream GraphQL Platform: Utf8GraphQLParser Stack Overflow via Deeply Nested GraphQL Documents
Original description
### Impact
Hot Chocolate's `Utf8GraphQLParser` is a recursive descent parser with no recursion depth limit. A crafted GraphQL document with deeply nested selection sets, object values, list values, or list types can trigger a `StackOverflowException` on payloads as small as **40 KB**.
Because `StackOverflowException` is **uncatchable in .NET** (since .NET 2.0), the entire worker process is terminated immediately. All in-flight HTTP requests, background `IHostedService` tasks, and open WebSocket subscriptions on that worker are dropped. The orchestrator (Kubernetes, IIS, etc.) must restart the process.
This occurs **before any validation rules run** — `MaxExecutionDepth`, complexity analyzers, persisted query allow-lists, and custom `IDocumentValidatorRule` implementations cannot intercept the crash because `Utf8GraphQLParser.Parse` is invoked before validation. The existing `MaxAllowedFields=2048` limit does not help because the crashing payloads contain very few fields.
**Severity:** Critical (9.1) — `CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H`
### Patches
- **v12 line:** Fixed in `12.22.7`
- **v13 line:** Fixed in `13.9.16`
- **v14 line:** Fixed in `14.3.1`
- **v15 line:** Fixed in `15.1.14`
The fix adds a `MaxAllowedRecursionDepth` option to `ParserOptions` with a safe default, and enforces it across all recursive parser methods (`ParseSelectionSet`, `ParseValueLiteral`, `ParseObject`, `ParseList`, `ParseTypeReference`, etc.). When the limit is exceeded, a catchable `SyntaxException` is thrown instead of overflowing the stack.
### Workarounds
There is no application-level workaround. `StackOverflowException` cannot be caught in .NET. The only mitigation is to upgrade to a patched version.
Operators can reduce (but not eliminate) risk by limiting HTTP request body size at the reverse proxy or load balancer layer, though the smallest crashing payload (40 KB) is well below most default body size limits and is highly compressible (~few hundred bytes via gzip).
### References
- Fix for v15: https://github.com/ChilliCream/graphql-platform/pull/9528
Hot Chocolate's `Utf8GraphQLParser` is a recursive descent parser with no recursion depth limit. A crafted GraphQL document with deeply nested selection sets, object values, list values, or list types can trigger a `StackOverflowException` on payloads as small as **40 KB**.
Because `StackOverflowException` is **uncatchable in .NET** (since .NET 2.0), the entire worker process is terminated immediately. All in-flight HTTP requests, background `IHostedService` tasks, and open WebSocket subscriptions on that worker are dropped. The orchestrator (Kubernetes, IIS, etc.) must restart the process.
This occurs **before any validation rules run** — `MaxExecutionDepth`, complexity analyzers, persisted query allow-lists, and custom `IDocumentValidatorRule` implementations cannot intercept the crash because `Utf8GraphQLParser.Parse` is invoked before validation. The existing `MaxAllowedFields=2048` limit does not help because the crashing payloads contain very few fields.
**Severity:** Critical (9.1) — `CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H`
### Patches
- **v12 line:** Fixed in `12.22.7`
- **v13 line:** Fixed in `13.9.16`
- **v14 line:** Fixed in `14.3.1`
- **v15 line:** Fixed in `15.1.14`
The fix adds a `MaxAllowedRecursionDepth` option to `ParserOptions` with a safe default, and enforces it across all recursive parser methods (`ParseSelectionSet`, `ParseValueLiteral`, `ParseObject`, `ParseList`, `ParseTypeReference`, etc.). When the limit is exceeded, a catchable `SyntaxException` is thrown instead of overflowing the stack.
### Workarounds
There is no application-level workaround. `StackOverflowException` cannot be caught in .NET. The only mitigation is to upgrade to a patched version.
Operators can reduce (but not eliminate) risk by limiting HTTP request body size at the reverse proxy or load balancer layer, though the smallest crashing payload (40 KB) is well below most default body size limits and is highly compressible (~few hundred bytes via gzip).
### References
- Fix for v15: https://github.com/ChilliCream/graphql-platform/pull/9528
ghsa CVSS3.1
9.1
Vulnerability type
CWE-674
Published: 16 Apr 2026 · Updated: 16 Apr 2026 · First seen: 16 Apr 2026