Description
### Summary
Netty's fix for CVE-2026-44248 is incomplete. The decoder checks if the MQTT packet's `Remaining Length` exceeds `maxBytesInMessage`, but fails to validate the `Properties Length` against the `Remaining Length`. An attacker can bypass the size limit by sending a small `Remaining Length` but an enormous `Properties Length`. This forces Netty to buffer and parse millions of properties, allowing an unauthenticated remote attacker to trigger excessive memory and CPU consumption, leading to OutOfMemoryError.

### Details
In `io.netty.handler.codec.mqtt.MqttDecoder`, the `decodeProperties()` helper method reads `totalPropertiesLength` and attempts to parse that many bytes. If the buffer lacks the full length, a `Signal` is thrown. The `catch` block inside `decode()` only enforces `maxBytesInMessage` against `bytesRemainingBeforeVariableHeader` (the packet's `Remaining Length`).

By sending a `CONNECT` packet with a small `Remaining Length` but a huge `Properties Length`, the size check passes. `ReplayingDecoder` then buffers data from the network until the huge `Properties Length` is reached, parsing millions of `UserProperty` objects and exhausting CPU and memory.

#
Published: 2026-09-18
Score: 7.5 High
EPSS: n/a
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

Analysis and contextual insights are available on OpenCVE Cloud.

Remediation

Vendor Workaround

See https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-jqf3-r9ww-c5x8 for fixed versions and remediation guidance.

Tracking

Sign in to view the affected projects.

Advisories

No advisories yet.

History

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 13:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Title Netty: netty-codec-mqtt: io.netty/netty-codec-mqtt: netty: resource exhaustion in mqttdecoder Io.netty/netty-codec-mqtt: netty: resource exhaustion in mqttdecoder

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 13:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}


Fri, 18 Sep 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description ### Summary Netty's fix for CVE-2026-44248 is incomplete. The decoder checks if the MQTT packet's `Remaining Length` exceeds `maxBytesInMessage`, but fails to validate the `Properties Length` against the `Remaining Length`. An attacker can bypass the size limit by sending a small `Remaining Length` but an enormous `Properties Length`. This forces Netty to buffer and parse millions of properties, allowing an unauthenticated remote attacker to trigger excessive memory and CPU consumption, leading to OutOfMemoryError. ### Details In `io.netty.handler.codec.mqtt.MqttDecoder`, the `decodeProperties()` helper method reads `totalPropertiesLength` and attempts to parse that many bytes. If the buffer lacks the full length, a `Signal` is thrown. The `catch` block inside `decode()` only enforces `maxBytesInMessage` against `bytesRemainingBeforeVariableHeader` (the packet's `Remaining Length`). By sending a `CONNECT` packet with a small `Remaining Length` but a huge `Properties Length`, the size check passes. `ReplayingDecoder` then buffers data from the network until the huge `Properties Length` is reached, parsing millions of `UserProperty` objects and exhausting CPU and memory. #
Title Netty: netty-codec-mqtt: io.netty/netty-codec-mqtt: netty: resource exhaustion in mqttdecoder
First Time appeared Redhat
Redhat amq Broker
Redhat camel Spring Boot
Redhat jboss Enterprise Application Platform
Redhat jboss Fuse
Redhat red Hat Single Sign On
Weaknesses CWE-1035
CPEs cpe:/a:redhat:amq_broker:7
cpe:/a:redhat:camel_spring_boot:4
cpe:/a:redhat:jboss_enterprise_application_platform:7
cpe:/a:redhat:jboss_fuse:7
cpe:/a:redhat:red_hat_single_sign_on:7
Vendors & Products Redhat
Redhat amq Broker
Redhat camel Spring Boot
Redhat jboss Enterprise Application Platform
Redhat jboss Fuse
Redhat red Hat Single Sign On
References

Subscriptions

Redhat Amq Broker Camel Spring Boot Jboss Enterprise Application Platform Jboss Fuse Red Hat Single Sign On
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: redhat

Published:

Updated: 2026-09-18T13:32:37.460Z

Reserved: 2026-09-18T10:32:41.197Z

Link: CVE-2026-93575

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-09-18T11:17:22.033

Modified: 2026-09-18T14:19:08.657

Link: CVE-2026-93575

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses