GitHub Advisoryadvisory · Go
GHSA-995v-fvrw-c78m opentelemetry-go's Schema ParseFile leaks file descriptors on each parse
LOW
Official page ↗
- Aliases
- CVE-2026-45287
- Ecosystem
- Go
- Packages
- go.opentelemetry.io/otel/schema/v1.1, go.opentelemetry.io/otel/schema/v1.0, go.opentelemetry.io/otel/schema
- Severity
- Low
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- Weaknesses
- CWE-772, CWE-775
- Reviewed
- 2026-05-28
Affected packages
• Go go.opentelemetry.io/otel/schema/v1.1: < 0.0.17 → fixed in 0.0.17
• Go go.opentelemetry.io/otel/schema/v1.0: < 0.0.17 → fixed in 0.0.17
• Go go.opentelemetry.io/otel/schema: < 0.0.17 → fixed in 0.0.17
Description
Summary
`go.opentelemetry.io/otel/schema/v1.0` and `go.opentelemetry.io/otel/schema/v1.1` leaks one file descriptor on each successful `ParseFile` call. `ParseFile` opens the schema file and passes it to `Parse` without closing it; repeated parsing in a long-running process can exhaust the process file descriptor limit and cause denial of service. The severity is low because exploitation depends on a consuming application exposing repeated schema parsing to an attacker-controlled path.
Introduced in commit: e72a235
Details
In `schema/v1.0/parser.go:41-47`, `ParseFile` opens the requested schema path with `os.Open` and then returns `Parse(file)` without a `defer file.Close()` or other close path:
```go
file, err := os.Open(schemaFilePath)
if err != nil {
return nil, err
}
return Parse(file)
```
The validation evidence also identifies `schema/v1.0/parser.go:50-73`: `Parse` accepts an `io.Reader`, decodes from it, and does not close it. Ownership of the opened file is therefore not transferred to `Parse`, leaving the descriptor open until the Go runtime eventually finalizes the file object. With repeated `ParseFile` calls, descriptors can accumulate until the process receives `EMFILE` / "too many open files".
PoC
validation-artifact.zip
The local artifact `validation-artifact.zip` contains:
• `leak_poc.go`: PoC source that repeatedly calls `schema.ParseFile("schema/v1.0/testdata/valid-example.yaml")` and prints `/proc/self/fd` counts.
• `LEAK_POC_README.txt`: reproduction notes.
• `leak_poc_run.log`: captured attempted run; the local offline environment failed before execution because Go module download from `proxy.golang.org` was forbidden.
Reproduce from the root of a checkout of `pellared/opentelemetry-go` at commit `e72a235` with Go module dependencies already available:
```sh
/bin/sh -c 'ulimit -n 256; GOGC=off go run leak_poc.go'
```
Configuration:
• File descriptor soft limit: `256`
• Garbage collection: disabled with `GOGC=off` so leaked descriptors are not reclaimed during the loop
• Schema file: `schema/v1.0/testdata/valid-example.yaml`
Expected output is increasing descriptor counts followed by an `EMFILE` failure, for example:
```text
iter 0 fds 7
iter 50 fds 57
iter 100 fds 107
...
panic: iteration 248: open schema/v1.0/testdata/valid-example.yaml: too many open files
```
The exact initial descriptor count and failing iteration can vary by OS and process state.
Impact
This is a file descriptor resource leak leading to availability loss. Applications that call `schema.ParseFile` repeatedly, especially through a runtime reload or request-controlled path, can exhaust their process file descriptor table and fail subsequent file, socket, or other descriptor operations. Impact is limited to denial of service of the consuming process; the evidence does not show confidentiality or integrity impact.
Related
Alias · CVE (1)
- CVE-2026-45287 OpenTelemetry-Go is the Go implementation of OpenTelemetry. vulnerability
References
- https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go/security/advisories/GHSA-995v-fvrw-c78m web
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-45287 advisory
- https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go/commit/e72a235518cb773137efd80336a179028bc34684 web
- https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go/commit/f12d198f161b61735d65705248715aa97021ba8d web
- https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go package