All vulnerabilities
CVE-2026-73252GHSA-hq58-98f5-2wg3

Mongoose: Unauthenticated remote heap out-of-bounds read in built-in TLS: off-by-one length check in mg_tls_recv_record() underflows recv_len to SIZE_MAX

cesanta mongoose
CVSS
7.5High
ExploitationPublic exploit codeCISA's assessment says proof of concept code is public, assessed 14 Oct 2026. Not in the KEV catalogCISA via CVE List
Exploit odds (EPSS)0.38%Chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 30% of CVEs. Scored 23 Oct 2026FIRST EPSS
Fixed in7.23Fixed versionGitHub
Published14 Oct 2026Updated 14 Oct 2026CVE List

What fixes it

A fixed version on one release line is not the upgrade target for every line. Check your exact version and any vendor backports.

Description

Mongoose is an embedded web server and network library. Prior to 7.23, the built-in TLS stack selected by MG_TLS_BUILTIN in src/tls_builtin.c accepts a TLS 1.3 record whose decrypted size is exactly the 16-byte authentication tag with no plaintext or ContentType byte. In mg_tls_recv_record(), the msgsz length check permits that record and the recv_len calculation underflows to SIZE_MAX, so a later handshake step treats stale buffer contents as a trusted message with an effectively unbounded length. An unauthenticated malicious TLS peer can trigger a heap out-of-bounds read before certificate or Finished validation, causing a remote denial of service. This issue is fixed in version 7.23.

Text from CVE List

Affected versions 2

  • mongooseaffected: < 7.23CVE List
  • mongoose, c<= 7.22GitHub

References 3