Security Bulletin
Summary
In scenarios where input size isn't limited, a malicious or inadvertent extremely large expression can consume excessive memory as the parser builds a huge AST. This can ultimately lead to*excessive memory usage and an Out-Of-Memory (OOM) crash of the process. This issue is relatively uncommon and will only manifest when there are no restrictions on the input size
Vulnerability Details
CVEID: CVE-2025-29786
DESCRIPTION: Expr is an expression language and expression evaluation for Go. Prior to version 1.17.0, if the Expr expression parser is given an unbounded input string, it will attempt to compile the entire string and generate an Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) node for each part of the expression. In scenarios where input size isn’t limited, a malicious or inadvertent extremely large expression can consume excessive memory as the parser builds a huge AST. This can ultimately lead to*excessive memory usage and an Out-Of-Memory (OOM) crash of the process. This issue is relatively uncommon and will only manifest when there are no restrictions on the input size, i.e. the expression length is allowed to grow arbitrarily large. In typical use cases where inputs are bounded or validated, this problem would not occur. The problem has been patched in the latest versions of the Expr library. The fix introduces compile-time limits on the number of AST nodes and memory usage during parsing, preventing any single expression from exhausting resources. Users should upgrade to Expr version 1.17.0 or later, as this release includes the new node budget and memory limit safeguards. Upgrading to v1.17.0 ensures that extremely deep or large expressions are detected and safely aborted during compilation, avoiding the OOM condition. For users who cannot immediately upgrade, the recommended workaround is to impose an input size restriction before parsing. In practice, this means validating or limiting the length of expression strings that your application will accept. For example, set a maximum allowable number of characters (or nodes) for any expression and reject or truncate inputs that exceed this limit. By ensuring no unbounded-length expression is ever fed into the parser, one can prevent the parser from constructing a pathologically large AST and avoid potential memory exhaustion. In short, pre-validate and cap input size as a safeguard in the absence of the patch.
CWE: CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
CVSS Source: security-advisories@github.com
CVSS Base score: 7.5
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)
Affected Products and Versions
| Affected Product(s) | Version(s) |
| watsonx.data | 2.1.3 |
Remediation/Fixes
The product needs to be installed or upgraded to the latest available level watsonx.data 2.2 or watsonx.data on CPD 5.2. Installation/upgrade instructions can be found here
https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/software-hub/5.2.x?topic=watsonxdata-installing.
Workarounds and Mitigations
None
Get Notified about Future Security Bulletins
References
Acknowledgement
Change History
13 Jun 2025: Initial Publication
*The CVSS Environment Score is customer environment specific and will ultimately impact the Overall CVSS Score. Customers can evaluate the impact of this vulnerability in their environments by accessing the links in the Reference section of this Security Bulletin.
Disclaimer
According to the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST), the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) is an "industry open standard designed to convey vulnerability severity and help to determine urgency and priority of response." IBM PROVIDES THE CVSS SCORES ""AS IS"" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. CUSTOMERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF ANY ACTUAL OR POTENTIAL SECURITY VULNERABILITY. In addition to other efforts to address potential vulnerabilities, IBM periodically updates the record of components contained in our product offerings. As part of that effort, if IBM identifies previously unidentified packages in a product/service inventory, we address relevant vulnerabilities regardless of CVE date. Inclusion of an older CVEID does not demonstrate that the referenced product has been used by IBM since that date, nor that IBM was aware of a vulnerability as of that date. We are making clients aware of relevant vulnerabilities as we become aware of them. "Affected Products and Versions" referenced in IBM Security Bulletins are intended to be only products and versions that are supported by IBM and have not passed their end-of-support or warranty date. Thus, failure to reference unsupported or extended-support products and versions in this Security Bulletin does not constitute a determination by IBM that they are unaffected by the vulnerability. Reference to one or more unsupported versions in this Security Bulletin shall not create an obligation for IBM to provide fixes for any unsupported or extended-support products or versions.
Document Location
Worldwide
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Document Information
Modified date:
13 June 2025
Initial Publish date:
13 June 2025
UID
ibm17236597