VDB

CVE-2026-72854

CVE-2026-72854 PUBLISHED CVSS 5.3 MEDIUM

Reported by VulnCheck · Published August 20, 2026

msgpack_unpacker_expand_buffer in src/unpack.c, reached through the public msgpack_unpacker_reserve_buffer API, computes its new buffer size using an unchecked size_t addition of the requested size and the amount already used. The doubling loop guards its own multiplication against overflow, but the addition in the loop condition is unguarded, so a request near SIZE_MAX wraps: the loop condition is already satisfied, the allocation is performed at the small pre-wrap size, and the function returns true. The caller is told the requested capacity was reserved when it was not, so a subsequent write of the requested length overflows the heap buffer. The library's own example/lib_buffer_unpack.c demonstrates the reserve-then-write pattern, and its defensive assert comparing capacity against the request is compiled out under NDEBUG. msgpack-c's own decode entry points do not derive the reservation size from untrusted input, so reaching this requires an integration that passes an attacker-influenced length to the reservation API, such as a length-prefixed streaming transport.

Risk Scores

CVSS 3.1
5.3
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:L

Affected Products

VendorProductVersions
msgpackmsgpack-c0
msgpackmsgpack-c0

Timeline

  • Aug 20, 2026 CVE Published
  • Aug 20, 2026 CVE Updated
  • Aug 21, 2026 Coalition ESS Score
  • Aug 24, 2026 EPSS Score
  • Sep 3, 2026 Security Advisory
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