---
id: CVE-2026-97394
title: kin-openapi is a Go project for handling OpenAPI files
summary: >-
  kin-openapi is a Go project for handling OpenAPI files. From 0.136.0 until
  0.143.0, openapi3filter accepts OpenAPI 3.1 array schemas without an items
  keyword and then dereferences the nil Schema.Items value while decoding
  application/x-w…
severity: high
cvss: 7.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-248
  - CWE-476
vendor: getkin
product: kin-openapi
affected:
  - 'kin-openapi >= 0.136.0, < 0.143.0'
published: '2026-10-15'
updated: '2026-10-15'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-15T16:18:25.457'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-97394'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/getkin/kin-openapi/commit/30e292371a89ca6d1f91a9553e0aa518b49f838d
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/getkin/kin-openapi/releases/tag/v0.143.0'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/getkin/kin-openapi/security/advisories/GHSA-p6wj-qrr4-pgh5
    label: security-advisories@github.com
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
ingestedAt: '2026-10-15T16:13:11.357Z'
---

## Overview

kin-openapi is a Go project for handling OpenAPI files. From 0.136.0 until 0.143.0, openapi3filter accepts OpenAPI 3.1 array schemas without an items keyword and then dereferences the nil Schema.Items value while decoding application/x-www-form-urlencoded or multipart/form-data request bodies, response headers, and other array parameter surfaces. A remote unauthenticated client can reach an affected operation with a nonempty request or matching response and deterministically trigger a nil-pointer panic during ValidateRequest or ValidateResponse. OpenAPI 3.0 documents are not affected because document validation rejects arrays without items, and JSON request bodies use a different decoder path. This issue is fixed in version 0.143.0.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.