Resource exhaustion in Io.netty Netty-Codec-Mqtt
CVE-2026-44248
Netty is an asynchronous, event-driven network application framework. Prior to 4.2.13.Final and 4.1.133.Final, the MQTT 5 header Properties section is parsed and buffered before any message size limit is applied. Specifically, in MqttDecoder, the decodeVariableHeader() method is called before the bytesRemainingBeforeVariableHeader > maxBytesInMessage check. The decodeVariableHeader() can call other methods which will call decodeProperties(). Effectively, Netty does not apply any limits to the size of the properties being decoded. Additionally, because MqttDecoder extends ReplayingDecoder, Netty will repeatedly re-parse the enormous Properties sections and buffer the bytes in memory, until the entire thing parses to completion. This can cause high resource usage in both CPU and memory. This vulnerability is fixed in 4.2.13.Final and 4.1.133.Final.
Vulnerability class: DoS (Denial of Service)
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 5.3 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.007 (51.9th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 52nd percentile — 51.9% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.005 · newest: 0.007 · change: +0.002
Affected products
- Io.netty Netty-Codec-Mqtt — versions >= 4.2.0.Alpha1, < 4.2.13.Final, < 4.1.133.Final
- Netty — versions >= 4.2.0.Alpha1, < 4.2.13.Final, < 4.1.133.Final
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
- github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-jfg9-48mv-9qgx (Vendor Advisory)
- 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c
- 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c
- 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c
- 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c
- 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c
- 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c
- 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-44248?
- CVE-2026-44248 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Io.netty Netty-Codec-Mqtt, classified under Uncontrolled Resource Consumption. CVSS score: 5.3/10. Published 2026-05-13.
- How severe is CVE-2026-44248?
- Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.3 out of 10.