NanoMQ: O(N²) Denial of Service in MQTT v5 Property Parsing
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · Low
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-407.
Summary
NanoMQ is an MQTT broker. Prior to 0.24.14, NanoMQ's MQTT v5 property decoder in nng/src/supplemental/mqtt/mqtt_codec.c uses property_append() to walk the entire linked list for each property added by decode_buf_properties(). A remote unauthenticated client can supply a PUBLISH or SUBSCRIBE packet containing many User Properties, causing O(N²) linked-list insertion and CPU work that makes the broker unresponsive; repeated packets can sustain the denial of service. This issue is fixed in version 0.24.14.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA nanomq (nanomq) Fixed in 0.24.14
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-44639
References
More nanomq vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-24672 NanoMQ has Heap Buffer Overflow in URI Parameter Parsing CVSS 4.0HIGH 7.7
- TI-2024-28570 An access control issue in NanoMQ v0.21.10 allows attackers to bypass security… CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2026-27853 An issue in EMQ NanoMQ v.0.24.9 allows a remote attacker to cause a denial of service via… CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-17589 MQTT v5 Variable Byte Integer parsing out-of-bounds: get_var_integer() CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2024-20452 Null Pointer Dereference vulnerability in topic_filtern function in mqtt_parser.c in… CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2023-17307 NanoMQ 0.16.5 is vulnerable to heap-use-after-free in the nano_ctx_send function of nmq_mqtt.c. CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
Sources
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences