Security Bulletin
Summary
IBM Watson Speech Services Cartridge is vulnerable to a memory leak or buffer overflow in UltraJSON due to multiple issues [CVE-2026-32874, CVE-2026-32875]. UltraJSON is used in our speech runtimes. This vulnerabilitiy has been addressed. Please read the details for remediation below.
Vulnerability Details
CVEID: CVE-2026-32874
DESCRIPTION: UltraJSON is a fast JSON encoder and decoder written in pure C with bindings for Python 3.7+. Versions 5.4.0 through 5.11.0 contain an accumulating memory leak in JSON parsing large (outside of the range [-2^63, 2^64 - 1]) integers. The leaked memory is a copy of the string form of the integer plus an additional NULL byte. The leak occurs irrespective of whether the integer parses successfully or is rejected due to having more than sys.get_int_max_str_digits() digits, meaning that any sized leak per malicious JSON can be achieved provided that there is no limit on the overall size of the payload. Any service that calls ujson.load()/ujson.loads()/ujson.decode() on untrusted inputs is affected and vulnerable to denial of service attacks. This issue has been fixed in version 5.12.0.
CWE: CWE-401: Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime
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)
CVEID: CVE-2026-32875
DESCRIPTION: UltraJSON is a fast JSON encoder and decoder written in pure C with bindings for Python 3.7+. Versions 5.10 through 5.11.0 are vulnerable to buffer overflow or infinite loop through large indent handling. ujson.dumps() crashes the Python interpreter (segmentation fault) when the product of the indent parameter and the nested depth of the input exceeds INT32_MAX. It can also get stuck in an infinite loop if the indent is a large negative number. Both are caused by an integer overflow/underflow whilst calculating how much memory to reserve for indentation. And both can be used to achieve denial of service. To be vulnerable, a service must call ujson.dump()/ujson.dumps()/ujson.encode() whilst giving untrusted users control over the indent parameter and not restrict that indentation to reasonably small non-negative values. A service may also be vulnerable to the infinite loop if it uses a fixed negative indent. An underflow always occurs for any negative indent when the input data is at least one level nested but, for small negative indents, the underflow is usually accidentally rectified by another overflow. This issue has been fixed in version 5.12.0.
CWE: CWE-190: Integer Overflow or Wraparound
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) |
| IBM Watson Speech Services Cartridge | 4.0.0 - 5.3.1 |
Remediation/Fixes
| Product(s) | Version(s) | Remediation/Fix/Instructions |
| IBM Watson Speech Services Cartridge | 5.3.1 Patch 5 | The fix in 5.3.1 Patch 5 applies to all versions listed (4.0.0-5.3.1). The newest version of 5.3.1 with the included Patch 5 can be downloaded and installed from: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cloud-paks/cp-data/5.3.x |
Workarounds and Mitigations
None
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References
Acknowledgement
Change History
21 May 2026: 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:
21 May 2026
Initial Publish date:
21 May 2026
UID
ibm17273669