CVE-2026-116500
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Denial of Service in IBM Qiskit SDK via Unbound Recursion

Publication date: 2026-11-08

Last updated on: 2026-11-08

Assigner: IBM Corporation

Description
IBM Qiskit SDK 2.4.0 through 2.6.1 could allow a local attacker to cause a denial of service due to unbound recursion during deserialization of untrusted QPY payloads.

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Meta Information

Published
2026-11-08
Last Modified
2026-11-08
Generated
2026-11-08
AI Q&A
2026-11-08
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
CVE-2026-116500
EUVD
EUVD-2026-119684

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 1 associated CPE
Vendor Product Version / Range
IBM Qiskit SDK From 2.4.0 (inc) to 2.6.1 (inc)

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Exploitability

CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-502 The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently ensuring that the resulting data will be valid.

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability in IBM Qiskit SDK versions 2.4.0 through 2.6.1 allows a local attacker to cause a denial of service by exploiting unbounded recursion during the deserialization of untrusted QPY payloads. This can lead to a stack overflow and segmentation fault.

Detection Guidance

Detecting this vulnerability requires checking the installed Qiskit SDK version. Run 'pip show qiskit' or 'conda list qiskit' to verify if your version is between 2.4.0 and 2.6.1. If so, the system is vulnerable.

Impact Analysis

The vulnerability can cause your system to crash or become unresponsive due to a denial of service, requiring a restart. It does not allow data theft or modification but disrupts normal operations.

Mitigation Strategies

Upgrade the Qiskit SDK to version 2.6.2 or later immediately using 'pip install --upgrade qiskit' or 'conda update qiskit'. Avoid processing untrusted QPY payloads until the upgrade is complete.

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