CVE-2026-81872

MEDIUMPre-NVD 6.36.3—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

This medium-severity CVE scores 6.3 under a secondary CVSS source (NVD's own analysis pending). EPSS exploit probability: 0.3%, top 77% of all CVEs by exploit prediction. GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).

Triggered by: NVD CVSS baseline
Sources: epss, secondary
Trending — 3 sources updated this weekElevated
6.3EG
EchelonGraph verdictMonitorLow exploitation likelihood right now — keep watching.
  • Lower severity and no public exploit yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0%CVSS: 6.3Exploit: Elevated riskExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

OpenTelemetry-Go is the Go implementation of OpenTelemetry. Prior to version 0.21.0, the go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/log BatchingProcessor can enter a tight CPU loop when attacker-driven log emission fills its asynchronous export buffer while the exporter is backpressured. NewBatchingProcessor wraps the exporter with newBufferExporter(exporter, 1), and the poll loop calls queue.TryDequeue and bufferExporter.EnqueueExport before immediately signaling pollTrigger whenever the queue remains at or above batchSize. Because a failed nonblocking EnqueueExport leaves the queue length unchanged, the processor repeatedly retries without waiting for its ticker, exhausting CPU and degrading or denying service in the embedding process. This issue is fixed in version 0.21.0.

CVSS v3
6.3
EG Score
6.3(medium)
EG Risk
44(Track)
EG Risk 44/100SSVC: Track

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity63% × 45%
Exploitation40% × 40%
Automatability0% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
0%
EPSS %ILE
23%
KEV
Not listed

Published

September 16, 2026

Last Modified

September 17, 2026

Advisory Details (4)

Auto-updated Sep 16, 2026
🔬 Proof of concept available. Patch available. Sources: github, github_pr, github_commit.
github_commit

commit ba71b09e6ed2 (open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go)

Fix landed in open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go commit ba71b09e6ed2 — awaiting tagged release

https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go/commit/ba71b09e6ed272e93a669aeaec1e98b1df4cc582
github_pr

sdk/log: prevent BatchProcessor busy-spin

Fix merged in open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go PR #8620 on 2026-07-24 — awaiting tagged release

https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go/pull/8620
generic

sdk/log: Redesign BatchProcessor · Issue #6797 · open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go · GitHub

https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go/issues/6797
github Patch Available🟡 PoC Available

BatchProcessor can busy-spin when export buffer is full · Advisory · open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go · GitHub

https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go/security/advisories/GHSA-hjf4-fphr-2h65

Weakness Classification(2)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 7× in last 7d / 7× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-09-18 19:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-09-18 12:32 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-09-17 14:25 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-09-17 13:42 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-09-16 21:23 UTCEG score recompute
  6. 2026-09-16 20:46 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-09-16 20:44 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-81872?
CVE-2026-81872 is a medium vulnerability published on September 16, 2026. OpenTelemetry-Go is the Go implementation of OpenTelemetry. Prior to version 0.21.0, the go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/log BatchingProcessor can enter a tight CPU loop when attacker-driven log emission fills its asynchronous export buffer while the exporter is backpressured. NewBatchingProcessor…
When was CVE-2026-81872 disclosed?
CVE-2026-81872 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on September 16, 2026, with the most recent update on September 17, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-81872 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-81872 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 77.0% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-81872?
CVE-2026-81872 has a CVSS v3 base score of 6.3 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-81872?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-81872, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

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