CVE-2026-100137: CAI Content Credentials DoS Vulnerability

CVE-2026-100137 Overview

CVE-2026-100137 is an uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability [CWE-400] affecting Adobe's Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (CAI) Content Credentials. An attacker can exploit this flaw remotely over the network without authentication or user interaction to exhaust system resources. Successful exploitation produces an application denial-of-service (DoS) condition that disrupts availability of the Content Credentials service.

Adobe published the issue in security bulletin APSB26-163. The vulnerability affects confidentiality and integrity minimally but imposes a high availability impact on the targeted application.

Critical Impact
Unauthenticated network attackers can trigger resource exhaustion in CAI Content Credentials, causing full application denial-of-service without any user interaction.

Affected Products

Adobe CAI Content Credentials SDK (see Adobe Security Bulletin APSB26-163 for affected versions)
Applications embedding the CAI Content Credentials SDK
Services processing Content Credentials manifests supplied by untrusted sources

Discovery Timeline

2026-10-13 - CVE-2026-100137 published to the National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
2026-10-14 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-100137

Vulnerability Analysis

The flaw is categorized under [CWE-400] Uncontrolled Resource Consumption. CAI Content Credentials parses provenance manifests attached to media assets. When the parser processes attacker-controlled input, it fails to bound the resources allocated during handling. Memory, CPU cycles, or file descriptors can be consumed beyond operational limits.

The attack requires only network reachability to a service that processes Content Credentials. No authentication, privileges, or user interaction are required. Repeated requests or a single crafted payload are sufficient to render the application unresponsive. Confidentiality and integrity remain intact, which indicates the issue is scoped to availability.

Organizations exposing Content Credentials processing through public APIs, upload pipelines, or media ingestion workflows face the highest risk. The vulnerability aligns with classic algorithmic complexity or allocation-oversight patterns seen in media and metadata parsers.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing enforcement of resource limits during manifest or asset processing. The parser accepts input without validating structural bounds such as element counts, recursion depth, or decompressed size. An attacker-supplied payload steers the processor into allocating resources beyond safe operational thresholds.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based with low complexity. An attacker submits a specially crafted Content Credentials payload to any endpoint that invokes the vulnerable SDK. Processing the payload exhausts system resources, denying service to legitimate users. The EPSS score is 0.51% as of 2026-10-14. Refer to the Adobe Security Bulletin APSB26-163 for exploitation specifics.

// No verified exploit code is published for CVE-2026-100137.
// Review Adobe APSB26-163 for authoritative technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-100137

Indicators of Compromise

Sudden spikes in CPU or memory utilization on hosts running the CAI Content Credentials SDK
Repeated crashes, restarts, or out-of-memory events in services that parse C2PA manifests
Elevated latency or HTTP 5xx responses from media ingestion endpoints following unsolicited upload traffic
Inbound requests delivering unusually large or deeply nested Content Credentials payloads

Detection Strategies

Baseline normal manifest sizes and parser runtime, then alert on statistical outliers
Correlate application crash telemetry with upstream request payloads to identify triggering inputs
Enable verbose logging on the Content Credentials SDK to capture parser timeouts and allocation failures

Monitoring Recommendations

Monitor process-level resource consumption for services linking the CAI SDK and alert on sustained saturation
Track inbound request rate and payload size distributions at API gateways in front of Content Credentials processors
Forward application, host, and network telemetry to a centralized SIEM for correlation and retention

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-100137

Immediate Actions Required

Apply the patched CAI Content Credentials SDK version documented in Adobe Security Bulletin APSB26-163
Inventory all applications and pipelines that embed the Content Credentials SDK and prioritize internet-exposed instances
Rate-limit and size-limit requests to any endpoint that parses Content Credentials payloads

Patch Information

Adobe addressed CVE-2026-100137 in the Content Credentials SDK update referenced in security bulletin APSB26-163. Upgrade all affected deployments to the fixed release and rebuild dependent applications that statically link or bundle the SDK.

Workarounds

Enforce maximum request body sizes at reverse proxies or API gateways in front of Content Credentials services
Restrict manifest processing to authenticated clients where business requirements allow
Isolate Content Credentials parsing in resource-constrained containers to limit blast radius during exhaustion events

bash

# Example nginx limits to constrain inbound payloads to Content Credentials endpoints
client_max_body_size 2m;
limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=cai:10m rate=10r/s;
limit_req zone=cai burst=20 nodelay;