Resource exhaustion in Node-Opcua

CVE-2026-54156

node-opcua is an OPC UA implementation for TypeScript and Node.js. Prior to 2.166.0, the process-global g_alreadyUsedNonce cache used by nonceAlreadyBeenUsed in packages/node-opcua-secure-channel/source/server/server_secure_channel_layer.ts records nonces from OpenSecureChannelRequest and CreateSession without expiration or a size limit. An unauthenticated remote attacker can repeatedly create sessions with unique nonces, causing entries to persist after session expiry and accumulate across connection cycles even when maxSessions=10 limits concurrent sessions. The resulting unbounded heap growth can exhaust the default Node.js heap and crash the node-opcua server process. This issue is fixed in version 2.166.0.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.5 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.008 (56.0th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 56th percentile — 56.0% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-54156: held from 0.008 to 0.008.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.008 · newest: 0.008 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-54156?
CVE-2026-54156 is a high-severity vulnerability in Node-Opcua, classified under Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2026-09-14.
How severe is CVE-2026-54156?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.