Vulnerability Description
HAPI FHIR is a complete implementation of the HL7 FHIR standard for healthcare interoperability in Java. Prior to 6.9.9 and 6.9.4.2, all implementations of FHIRPathEngine accept arbitrary FHIRPath expressions and evaluate them without input validation, and the FHIRPath functions matches(), matchesFull(), and replaceMatches() pass user-controlled regular expressions to Java's Pattern.compile() and String.replaceAll() through an incomplete timeout utility. An attacker can send a resource containing an evil regex pattern that causes catastrophic backtracking, exhausting CPU resources and causing denial of service in the FHIR Validator HTTP endpoint and affected org.hl7.fhir.* modules. This issue is fixed in versions 6.9.9 and 6.9.4.2.
CVSS Score
HIGH
Related Weaknesses (CWE)
References
- https://github.com/hapifhir/org.hl7.fhir.core/commit/109c88837c032ef399b2eb87ddd
- https://github.com/hapifhir/org.hl7.fhir.core/commit/e08982d2b6f6dcd6c670a762d9c
- https://github.com/hapifhir/org.hl7.fhir.core/pull/2463
- https://github.com/hapifhir/org.hl7.fhir.core/releases/tag/6.9.4.2
- https://github.com/hapifhir/org.hl7.fhir.core/releases/tag/6.9.9
- https://github.com/hapifhir/org.hl7.fhir.core/security/advisories/GHSA-7cmj-v6x8
FAQ
What is CVE-2026-49485?
CVE-2026-49485 is a vulnerability with a CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH). HAPI FHIR is a complete implementation of the HL7 FHIR standard for healthcare interoperability in Java. Prior to 6.9.9 and 6.9.4.2, all implementations of FHIRPathEngine accept arbitrary FHIRPath exp...
How severe is CVE-2026-49485?
CVE-2026-49485 has been rated HIGH with a CVSS base score of 7.5/10. Review the CVSS metrics above for detailed severity breakdown.
Is there a patch for CVE-2026-49485?
Check the references section above for vendor advisories and patch information. Review vendor security bulletins for remediation guidance.