Process crash via unaligned network-field pointer dereferences
Published Sep 24, 2026 · Updated Sep 24, 2026
Memory-alignment errors in nDPI 5.1.0 allow remote attackers to crash traffic-analysis processes via crafted DNS packets. The DNS get16 helper and serializer deserializers cast byte-buffer positions at odd offsets to uint16_t or wider pointers and dereference them directly. A crash requires the packet to reach an nDPI consumer built with trap-on-error undefined-behavior sanitization or running on a strict-alignment CPU; ordinary x86-64 builds do not fault natively.
Summary
What happened
Memory-alignment errors in nDPI 5.1.0 allow remote attackers to crash traffic-analysis processes via crafted DNS packets. The DNS get16 helper and serializer deserializers cast byte-buffer positions at odd offsets to uint16_t or wider pointers and dereference them directly. A crash requires the packet to reach an nDPI consumer built with trap-on-error undefined-behavior sanitization or running on a strict-alignment CPU; ordinary x86-64 builds do not fault natively.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-88357
- Published
- Sep 24, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 24, 2026
- Vendor
- Unknown vendor
- Product
- Unknown product
- Classifications
- CWE-843, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 24, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 24, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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What is affected?
Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.
Published CVSS scores
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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.
Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Crafted DNS trigger-packet reproducerproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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