Information disclosure in Netty

CVE-2026-45536

Netty is a network application framework for development of protocol servers and clients. Prior to versions 4.1.135.Final and 4.2.15.Final, netty_unix_socket_recvFd sets msg_control to `char control[CMSG_SPACE(sizeof(int))]` (line 940) — 24 bytes on 64-bit Linux. A peer-sent SCM_RIGHTS cmsg carrying two ints has cmsg_len = CMSG_LEN(8) = 24, which fits exactly with no MSG_CTRUNC, so the kernel installs both fds in the receiving process. The subsequent check `cmsg->cmsg_len == CMSG_LEN(sizeof(int))` (line 972, expected 20) fails, the branch that would read the fd is skipped, and neither installed fd is closed. The for(;;) loop calls recvmsg again (non-blocking → EAGAIN → Java maps to 0 → read loop exits normally), leaving two leaked fds per message. There is no MSG_CTRUNC handling. Reachable via Epoll/KQueue DomainSocketChannel when the application opts into DomainSocketReadMode.FILE_DESCRIPTORS (non-default). Versions 4.1.135.Final and 4.2.15.Final patch the issue.

Vulnerability class: Information Disclosure

EPSS: 0.001 (3.4th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 4.0 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L.

Affected products

  • Netty — versions >= 4.2.0.Final, < 4.2.15.Final, < 4.1.135.Final

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-45536?
CVE-2026-45536 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Netty, classified under Information Disclosure. CVSS score: 4.0/10. Published 2026-06-12.
How severe is CVE-2026-45536?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 4.0 out of 10.