// For flags

CVE-2023-28366

mosquitto: memory leak leads to unresponsive broker

Severity Score

7.5
*CVSS v3.1

Exploit Likelihood

*EPSS

Affected Versions

*CPE

Public Exploits

0
*Multiple Sources

Exploited in Wild

-
*KEV

Decision

-
*SSVC
Descriptions

The broker in Eclipse Mosquitto 1.3.2 through 2.x before 2.0.16 has a memory leak that can be abused remotely when a client sends many QoS 2 messages with duplicate message IDs, and fails to respond to PUBREC commands. This occurs because of mishandling of EAGAIN from the libc send function.

El intermediario en Eclipse Mosquitto 1.3.2 hasta 2.x anterior a 2.0.16 tiene una pérdida de memoria de la que se puede abusar de forma remota cuando un cliente envía muchos mensajes QoS 2 con ID de mensajes duplicados y no responde a los comandos PUBREC. Esto ocurre debido a un mal manejo de EAGAIN desde la función de envío de libc.

A memory leak vulnerability was found in Eclipse Mosquitto. This issue is triggered by malicious initial packets or certain client actions and may allow a remote attacker to the deplete system resources causing memory exhaustion, leading to a disruption in services and a denial of service condition.

Kathrin Kleinhammer discovered that Mosquitto incorrectly handled certain inputs. If a user or an automated system were provided with a specially crafted input, a remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. Zhanxiang Song discovered that Mosquitto incorrectly handled certain inputs. If a user or an automated system were provided with a specially crafted input, a remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause an authorisation bypass. This issue only affected Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and Ubuntu 23.04.

*Credits: N/A
CVSS Scores
Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Complete
* Common Vulnerability Scoring System
SSVC
  • Decision:-
Exploitation
-
Automatable
-
Tech. Impact
-
* Organization's Worst-case Scenario
Timeline
  • 2023-03-15 CVE Reserved
  • 2023-09-01 CVE Published
  • 2024-08-02 CVE Updated
  • 2025-03-30 EPSS Updated
  • ---------- Exploited in Wild
  • ---------- KEV Due Date
  • ---------- First Exploit
CWE
  • CWE-401: Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime
CAPEC
Affected Vendors, Products, and Versions
Vendor Product Version Other Status
Vendor Product Version Other Status <-- --> Vendor Product Version Other Status
Eclipse
Search vendor "Eclipse"
Mosquitto
Search vendor "Eclipse" for product "Mosquitto"
>= 1.3.2 < 2.0.16
Search vendor "Eclipse" for product "Mosquitto" and version " >= 1.3.2 < 2.0.16"
-
Affected