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Enterprise ServerApplication · GitHub

CVE-2026-7541

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-05-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.16.18 / 3.17.15 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
A denial of service vulnerability was identified in GitHub Enterprise Server that allowed an unauthenticated attacker to cause service disruption by sending crafted requests with deeply nested JSON payloads to an unauthenticated API endpoint. The endpoint parsed user-controlled JSON request bodies without size or depth limits, causing excessive CPU and memory consumption. This vulnerability affected all versions of GitHub Enterprise Server prior to 3.21 and was fixed in versions 3.20.2, 3.19.6, 3.18.9, 3.17.15, and 3.16.18. This vulnerability was reported via the GitHub Bug Bounty program.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

GitHub Enterprise Server contains an unauthenticated API endpoint that parses user-controlled JSON request bodies without imposing size or depth limits. An attacker can send crafted requests with deeply nested JSON payloads to cause excessive CPU and memory consumption, resulting in denial of service.

MitigationUpgrade to GitHub Enterprise Server version 3.20.2, 3.19.6, 3.18.9, 3.17.15, or 3.16.18 or later, which implement JSON parsing depth and size limits to prevent resource exhaustion.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Enterprise ServerApplication
Affected:< 3.16.18>= 3.17.0, < 3.17.15>= 3.18.0, < 3.18.9>= 3.19.0, < 3.19.6>= 3.20.0, < 3.20.2

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the installed GitHub Enterprise Server version
    Access the GitHub Enterprise Server admin console and navigate to the 'About' page, or run `ghe-version` from the management shell
    Affected if version is less than 3.16.18, or between 3.17.0 and 3.17.14, or between 3.18.0 and 3.18.8, or between 3.19.0 and 3.19.5, or between 3.20.0 and 3.20.1
  2. Confirm the system is GitHub Enterprise Server rather than GitHub Enterprise Cloud
    Check the admin console branding or run `ghe-version` which will return a version string starting with 'ghe-' for the on-premises appliance
    Affected if the product is GitHub Enterprise Server (on-premises) rather than GitHub's SaaS cloud offering
  3. Determine if unauthenticated API endpoints are accessible
    Attempt to reach common unauthenticated API paths such as /api/v3/ or /api/health from an external network, or review network/firewall configurations that control inbound access to the appliance
    Affected if the API endpoints are exposed to unauthenticated network access (the vulnerable endpoint does not require authentication)

The environment is affected if running a vulnerable GitHub Enterprise Server version (3.16.x before 3.16.18, 3.17.x before 3.17.15, 3.18.x before 3.18.9, 3.19.x before 3.19.6, or 3.20.x before 3.20.2) with unauthenticated API access exposed to the network.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 3.16.18 / 3.17.15 / 3.18.9 or later
Fixed in 3.16.183.17.153.18.9
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to GitHub Enterprise Server version 3.20.2, 3.19.6, 3.18.9, 3.17.15, or 3.16.18 or later, which implement JSON parsing depth and size limits to prevent resource exhaustion.

Recommended fix High confidence

3.20.2 (or earliest fixed version >= current version: 3.16.18, 3.17.15, 3.18.9, or 3.19.6)

  1. 1. Identify the current GitHub Enterprise Server version by navigating to the admin console or running: ghe-version
  2. 2. Determine the appropriate upgrade path based on current version (must upgrade sequentially through major versions if crossing version boundaries)
  3. 3. Create a backup of the GitHub Enterprise Server instance using the administrative interface or ghe-backup command
  4. 4. Download the appropriate fixed version from GitHub (3.16.18, 3.17.15, 3.18.9, 3.19.6, or 3.20.2)
  5. 5. Follow the standard GitHub Enterprise Server upgrade procedure: upload the upgrade package via the management console or command line, then apply the upgrade
  6. 6. After upgrade completes, verify the version by running ghe-version and confirm the fix is applied
  7. 7. Test that the affected API endpoint no longer accepts deeply nested JSON payloads that cause excessive resource consumption
Caveat GitHub Enterprise Server upgrades may have breaking changes; review release notes for your target version and ensure compatibility with existing workflows before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Enterprise Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,080
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-7541 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data