CVE-2026-27571 (GCVE-0-2026-27571)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-02-24 15:59 – Updated: 2026-02-26 21:33
VLAI?
Title
nats-server websockets are vulnerable to pre-auth memory DoS
Summary
NATS-Server is a High-Performance server for NATS.io, a cloud and edge native messaging system. The WebSockets handling of NATS messages handles compressed messages via the WebSockets negotiated compression. Prior to versions 2.11.2 and 2.12.3, the implementation bound the memory size of a NATS message but did not independently bound the memory consumption of the memory stream when constructing a NATS message which might then fail validation for size reasons. An attacker can use a compression bomb to cause excessive memory consumption, often resulting in the operating system terminating the server process. The use of compression is negotiated before authentication, so this does not require valid NATS credentials to exploit. The fix, present in versions 2.11.2 and 2.12.3, was to bounds the decompression to fail once the message was too large, instead of continuing on. The vulnerability only affects deployments which use WebSockets and which expose the network port to untrusted end-points.
Severity ?
5.9 (Medium)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE
  • CWE-409 - Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification)
  • CWE-770 - Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
Assigner
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
nats-io nats-server Affected: < 2.11.12
Affected: >= 2.12.0-RC.1, < 2.12.3
Create a notification for this product.
Show details on NVD website
To clipboard 

{
  "containers": {
    "adp": [
      {
        "metrics": [
          {
            "other": {
              "content": {
                "id": "CVE-2026-27571",
                "options": [
                  {
                    "Exploitation": "none"
                  },
                  {
                    "Automatable": "no"
                  },
                  {
                    "Technical Impact": "partial"
                  }
                ],
                "role": "CISA Coordinator",
                "timestamp": "2026-02-26T21:06:37.631926Z",
                "version": "2.0.3"
              },
              "type": "ssvc"
            }
          }
        ],
        "providerMetadata": {
          "dateUpdated": "2026-02-26T21:33:40.372Z",
          "orgId": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
          "shortName": "CISA-ADP"
        },
        "title": "CISA ADP Vulnrichment"
      }
    ],
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "product": "nats-server",
          "vendor": "nats-io",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "\u003c 2.11.12"
            },
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "\u003e= 2.12.0-RC.1, \u003c 2.12.3"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "NATS-Server is a High-Performance server for NATS.io, a cloud and edge native messaging system. The WebSockets handling of NATS messages handles compressed messages via the WebSockets negotiated compression. Prior to versions 2.11.2 and 2.12.3, the implementation bound the memory size of a NATS message but did not independently bound the memory consumption of the memory stream when constructing a NATS message which might then fail validation for size reasons. An attacker can use a compression bomb to cause excessive memory consumption, often resulting in the operating system terminating the server process. The use of compression is negotiated before authentication, so this does not require valid NATS credentials to exploit. The fix, present in versions 2.11.2 and 2.12.3, was to bounds the decompression to fail once the message was too large, instead of continuing on. The vulnerability only affects deployments which use WebSockets and which expose the network port to untrusted end-points."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV3_1": {
            "attackComplexity": "HIGH",
            "attackVector": "NETWORK",
            "availabilityImpact": "HIGH",
            "baseScore": 5.9,
            "baseSeverity": "MEDIUM",
            "confidentialityImpact": "NONE",
            "integrityImpact": "NONE",
            "privilegesRequired": "NONE",
            "scope": "UNCHANGED",
            "userInteraction": "NONE",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H",
            "version": "3.1"
          }
        }
      ],
      "problemTypes": [
        {
          "descriptions": [
            {
              "cweId": "CWE-409",
              "description": "CWE-409: Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification)",
              "lang": "en",
              "type": "CWE"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "descriptions": [
            {
              "cweId": "CWE-770",
              "description": "CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling",
              "lang": "en",
              "type": "CWE"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-02-24T15:59:17.926Z",
        "orgId": "a0819718-46f1-4df5-94e2-005712e83aaa",
        "shortName": "GitHub_M"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "name": "https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/security/advisories/GHSA-qrvq-68c2-7grw",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_CONFIRM"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/security/advisories/GHSA-qrvq-68c2-7grw"
        },
        {
          "name": "https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/commit/f77fb7c4535e6727cc1a2899cd8e6bbdd8ba2017",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_MISC"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/commit/f77fb7c4535e6727cc1a2899cd8e6bbdd8ba2017"
        },
        {
          "name": "https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.11.12",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_MISC"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.11.12"
        },
        {
          "name": "https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.12.3",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_MISC"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.12.3"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "advisory": "GHSA-qrvq-68c2-7grw",
        "discovery": "UNKNOWN"
      },
      "title": "nats-server websockets are vulnerable to pre-auth memory DoS"
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "a0819718-46f1-4df5-94e2-005712e83aaa",
    "assignerShortName": "GitHub_M",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-27571",
    "datePublished": "2026-02-24T15:59:17.926Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-02-20T17:40:28.448Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-02-26T21:33:40.372Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2",
  "vulnerability-lookup:meta": {
    "nvd": "{\"cve\":{\"id\":\"CVE-2026-27571\",\"sourceIdentifier\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"published\":\"2026-02-24T17:29:03.393\",\"lastModified\":\"2026-02-26T19:06:26.413\",\"vulnStatus\":\"Analyzed\",\"cveTags\":[],\"descriptions\":[{\"lang\":\"en\",\"value\":\"NATS-Server is a High-Performance server for NATS.io, a cloud and edge native messaging system. The WebSockets handling of NATS messages handles compressed messages via the WebSockets negotiated compression. Prior to versions 2.11.2 and 2.12.3, the implementation bound the memory size of a NATS message but did not independently bound the memory consumption of the memory stream when constructing a NATS message which might then fail validation for size reasons. An attacker can use a compression bomb to cause excessive memory consumption, often resulting in the operating system terminating the server process. The use of compression is negotiated before authentication, so this does not require valid NATS credentials to exploit. The fix, present in versions 2.11.2 and 2.12.3, was to bounds the decompression to fail once the message was too large, instead of continuing on. The vulnerability only affects deployments which use WebSockets and which expose the network port to untrusted end-points.\"}],\"metrics\":{\"cvssMetricV31\":[{\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"type\":\"Secondary\",\"cvssData\":{\"version\":\"3.1\",\"vectorString\":\"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H\",\"baseScore\":5.9,\"baseSeverity\":\"MEDIUM\",\"attackVector\":\"NETWORK\",\"attackComplexity\":\"HIGH\",\"privilegesRequired\":\"NONE\",\"userInteraction\":\"NONE\",\"scope\":\"UNCHANGED\",\"confidentialityImpact\":\"NONE\",\"integrityImpact\":\"NONE\",\"availabilityImpact\":\"HIGH\"},\"exploitabilityScore\":2.2,\"impactScore\":3.6},{\"source\":\"nvd@nist.gov\",\"type\":\"Primary\",\"cvssData\":{\"version\":\"3.1\",\"vectorString\":\"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H\",\"baseScore\":7.5,\"baseSeverity\":\"HIGH\",\"attackVector\":\"NETWORK\",\"attackComplexity\":\"LOW\",\"privilegesRequired\":\"NONE\",\"userInteraction\":\"NONE\",\"scope\":\"UNCHANGED\",\"confidentialityImpact\":\"NONE\",\"integrityImpact\":\"NONE\",\"availabilityImpact\":\"HIGH\"},\"exploitabilityScore\":3.9,\"impactScore\":3.6}]},\"weaknesses\":[{\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"type\":\"Primary\",\"description\":[{\"lang\":\"en\",\"value\":\"CWE-409\"},{\"lang\":\"en\",\"value\":\"CWE-770\"}]}],\"configurations\":[{\"nodes\":[{\"operator\":\"OR\",\"negate\":false,\"cpeMatch\":[{\"vulnerable\":true,\"criteria\":\"cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:nats-server:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*\",\"versionEndExcluding\":\"2.11.12\",\"matchCriteriaId\":\"84A02A21-D310-4BAA-BE58-472410934027\"},{\"vulnerable\":true,\"criteria\":\"cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:nats-server:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*\",\"versionStartIncluding\":\"2.12.0\",\"versionEndExcluding\":\"2.12.3\",\"matchCriteriaId\":\"82EF19F0-15AD-422C-86C7-0D669060AC6F\"}]}]}],\"references\":[{\"url\":\"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/commit/f77fb7c4535e6727cc1a2899cd8e6bbdd8ba2017\",\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"tags\":[\"Patch\"]},{\"url\":\"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.11.12\",\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"tags\":[\"Product\",\"Release Notes\"]},{\"url\":\"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.12.3\",\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"tags\":[\"Product\",\"Release Notes\"]},{\"url\":\"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/security/advisories/GHSA-qrvq-68c2-7grw\",\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"tags\":[\"Vendor Advisory\"]}]}}",
    "vulnrichment": {
      "containers": "{\"cna\": {\"title\": \"nats-server websockets are vulnerable to pre-auth memory DoS\", \"problemTypes\": [{\"descriptions\": [{\"cweId\": \"CWE-409\", \"lang\": \"en\", \"description\": \"CWE-409: Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification)\", \"type\": \"CWE\"}]}, {\"descriptions\": [{\"cweId\": \"CWE-770\", \"lang\": \"en\", \"description\": \"CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling\", \"type\": \"CWE\"}]}], \"metrics\": [{\"cvssV3_1\": {\"attackComplexity\": \"HIGH\", \"attackVector\": \"NETWORK\", \"availabilityImpact\": \"HIGH\", \"baseScore\": 5.9, \"baseSeverity\": \"MEDIUM\", \"confidentialityImpact\": \"NONE\", \"integrityImpact\": \"NONE\", \"privilegesRequired\": \"NONE\", \"scope\": \"UNCHANGED\", \"userInteraction\": \"NONE\", \"vectorString\": \"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H\", \"version\": \"3.1\"}}], \"references\": [{\"name\": \"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/security/advisories/GHSA-qrvq-68c2-7grw\", \"tags\": [\"x_refsource_CONFIRM\"], \"url\": \"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/security/advisories/GHSA-qrvq-68c2-7grw\"}, {\"name\": \"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/commit/f77fb7c4535e6727cc1a2899cd8e6bbdd8ba2017\", \"tags\": [\"x_refsource_MISC\"], \"url\": \"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/commit/f77fb7c4535e6727cc1a2899cd8e6bbdd8ba2017\"}, {\"name\": \"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.11.12\", \"tags\": [\"x_refsource_MISC\"], \"url\": \"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.11.12\"}, {\"name\": \"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.12.3\", \"tags\": [\"x_refsource_MISC\"], \"url\": \"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.12.3\"}], \"affected\": [{\"vendor\": \"nats-io\", \"product\": \"nats-server\", \"versions\": [{\"version\": \"\u003c 2.11.12\", \"status\": \"affected\"}, {\"version\": \"\u003e= 2.12.0-RC.1, \u003c 2.12.3\", \"status\": \"affected\"}]}], \"providerMetadata\": {\"orgId\": \"a0819718-46f1-4df5-94e2-005712e83aaa\", \"shortName\": \"GitHub_M\", \"dateUpdated\": \"2026-02-24T15:59:17.926Z\"}, \"descriptions\": [{\"lang\": \"en\", \"value\": \"NATS-Server is a High-Performance server for NATS.io, a cloud and edge native messaging system. The WebSockets handling of NATS messages handles compressed messages via the WebSockets negotiated compression. Prior to versions 2.11.2 and 2.12.3, the implementation bound the memory size of a NATS message but did not independently bound the memory consumption of the memory stream when constructing a NATS message which might then fail validation for size reasons. An attacker can use a compression bomb to cause excessive memory consumption, often resulting in the operating system terminating the server process. The use of compression is negotiated before authentication, so this does not require valid NATS credentials to exploit. The fix, present in versions 2.11.2 and 2.12.3, was to bounds the decompression to fail once the message was too large, instead of continuing on. The vulnerability only affects deployments which use WebSockets and which expose the network port to untrusted end-points.\"}], \"source\": {\"advisory\": \"GHSA-qrvq-68c2-7grw\", \"discovery\": \"UNKNOWN\"}}, \"adp\": [{\"title\": \"CISA ADP Vulnrichment\", \"metrics\": [{\"other\": {\"type\": \"ssvc\", \"content\": {\"id\": \"CVE-2026-27571\", \"role\": \"CISA Coordinator\", \"options\": [{\"Exploitation\": \"none\"}, {\"Automatable\": \"no\"}, {\"Technical Impact\": \"partial\"}], \"version\": \"2.0.3\", \"timestamp\": \"2026-02-26T21:06:37.631926Z\"}}}], \"providerMetadata\": {\"orgId\": \"134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0\", \"shortName\": \"CISA-ADP\", \"dateUpdated\": \"2026-02-26T21:06:39.596Z\"}}]}",
      "cveMetadata": "{\"cveId\": \"CVE-2026-27571\", \"assignerOrgId\": \"a0819718-46f1-4df5-94e2-005712e83aaa\", \"state\": \"PUBLISHED\", \"assignerShortName\": \"GitHub_M\", \"dateReserved\": \"2026-02-20T17:40:28.448Z\", \"datePublished\": \"2026-02-24T15:59:17.926Z\", \"dateUpdated\": \"2026-02-26T21:33:40.372Z\"}",
      "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
      "dataVersion": "5.2"
    }
  }
}


Log in or create an account to share your comment.




Tags
Taxonomy of the tags.




Sightings

Author Source Type Date

Nomenclature

  • Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
  • Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
  • Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
  • Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
  • Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.



Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.