Heap corruption via unchecked JSON escape expansion
Published Sep 4, 2026 · Updated Sep 4, 2026
Heap buffer overflow in ntop nDPI before 6.0 allows remote attackers to corrupt heap memory through crafted network packet data. The ndpi_json_string_escape function checks capacity only once per loop iteration, then writes multi-byte escapes, UTF-8 data, and trailing bytes without bounds rechecks. Unauthenticated data must reach an external application's use of this public API; successful triggering overwrites heap memory and can corrupt or interrupt that application.
Summary
What happened
Heap buffer overflow in ntop nDPI before 6.0 allows remote attackers to corrupt heap memory through crafted network packet data. The ndpi_json_string_escape function checks capacity only once per loop iteration, then writes multi-byte escapes, UTF-8 data, and trailing bytes without bounds rechecks. Unauthenticated data must reach an external application's use of this public API; successful triggering overwrites heap memory and can corrupt or interrupt that application.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-86098
- Published
- Sep 4, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 4, 2026
- Vendor
- ntop
- Product
- nDPI
- Classifications
- CWE-787
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 4, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 4, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=0 <6.0
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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