CVE-2026-81872

OpenTelemetry-Go: BatchProcessor can busy-spin when export buffer is full

MEDIUM
6.3
CVSS Score
Published: September 16, 2026 at 08:42 PM UTC
Updated: September 30, 2026 at 05:43 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorOpentelemetry

Using opentelemetry-go by open-telemetry?

Get instant alerts when new vulnerabilities affect opentelemetry-go - before attackers find them.

Real-time alertsTrack your software stackFree plan available
Severity
MEDIUM6.3
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.4%
SSVC
PoC

Description

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.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 0.21.0
Affected range stops below 0.21.0, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet, and no fixed version or vendor advisory is recorded against it.

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCPoCNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

6.3MEDIUMGitHub_M
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusAWAITING ANALYSIS
CWE
CWE-400CWE-834

Get alerted

Stop reading CVE feeds looking for your own stack

Track the products you run and VulnTracker tells you when a new CVE affects them — with what is known about fixing it, and nothing about the rest.

Free plan, no card