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Ubuntu 20.04 jq Critical Denial of Service Fix USN-8202-3

ubuntu
Calendar Grey May 21, 2026
Dist Ubuntu Esm H88
A regression in jq observed in Ubuntu 18.04 and 20.04 LTS can lead to denial of service or code execution. Update recommended.
USN-8202-1 introduced a regression in jq

Summary

USN-8202-1 introduced a regression in jq

Software Description:

- jq: lightweight and flexible command-line JSON processor

Details:

USN-8202-1 fixed vulnerabilities in jq. The update caused a regression

for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. This update fixes the problem.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Original advisory details:

It was discovered that jq did not correctly handle certain string

concatenations. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial

of service or execute arbitrary code. This issue was addressed in Ubuntu

16.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu

24.04 LTS and Ubuntu 25.10. (CVE-2026-32316)

It was discovered that jq did not correctly handle recursion in certain

circumstances. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial

of service. (CVE-2026-33947)

It was discovered that jq did not correctly handle improperly terminated

strings. An attacker could possibly use this issue to caus...

Read the Full Advisory

Topics%20covered

Topics Covered

security advisory denial of service Ubuntu arbitrary code regression jq

Update Instructions

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following
package versions:

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
  jq                              1.6-1ubuntu0.20.04.1+esm3
                                  Available with Ubuntu Pro
  libjq-dev                       1.6-1ubuntu0.20.04.1+esm3
                                  Available with Ubuntu Pro
  libjq1                          1.6-1ubuntu0.20.04.1+esm3
                                  Available with Ubuntu Pro

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
  jq                              1.5+dfsg-2ubuntu0.1~esm3
                                  Available with Ubuntu Pro
  libjq-dev                       1.5+dfsg-2ubuntu0.1~esm3
                                  Available with Ubuntu Pro
  libjq1                          1.5+dfsg-2ubuntu0.1~esm3
                                  Available with Ubuntu Pro

In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.

References

https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8202-3

https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8202-2

https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8202-1

CVE-2026-40164, https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/jq/+bug/2152052

Severity
important
Lowest
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Critical

Ubuntu Security Notice USN-8202-3

Topics%20covered

Topics Covered

security advisory denial of service Ubuntu arbitrary code regression jq

Package Information

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