What is CVE-2016-10542?

CVE-2016-10542 is a high-severity vulnerability in HackerOne Ws Node Module, classified under Uncontrolled Resource Consumption. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2018-05-31.

How severe is CVE-2016-10542?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.

Is CVE-2016-10542 known to be exploited?

4 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Resource exhaustion in HackerOne Ws Node Module

CVE-2016-10542

ws is a "simple to use, blazing fast and thoroughly tested websocket client, server and console for node.js, up-to-date against RFC-6455". By sending an overly long websocket payload to a `ws` server, it is possible to crash the node process. This affects ws 1.1.0 and earlier.

Vulnerability class: DoS (Denial of Service)

Published 2018-05-31 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.5 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.075 (94.3th percentile), scored 2026-09-29.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 94th percentile — 94.3% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.075 · newest: 0.075 · change: 0.000

Affected products

HackerOne Ws Node Module — versions <=1.1.0
Ws Project

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

github.com/nodejs/node/issues/7388 (Third Party Advisory, Issue Tracking)
nodesecurity.io/advisories/120 (Third Party Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2016-10542?: CVE-2016-10542 is a high-severity vulnerability in HackerOne Ws Node Module, classified under Uncontrolled Resource Consumption. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2018-05-31.
How severe is CVE-2016-10542?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.
Is CVE-2016-10542 known to be exploited?: 4 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.