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CRITICAL Received

CVE-2026-5857

Contiki-NG's MQTT client parse_publish_vhdr() in os/net/app-layer/mqtt/mqtt.c sets topic_len_received=1 before checking topic_len against the 64-byte limit, so an over-length topic returns early but leaves the flag set. On the next TCP segment, tcp_input() re-invokes the parser with topic_received==0, and the persisted topic_len_received==1 skips the length-reading block containing the guard, falling through directly to a memcpy() that uses the unvalidated 16-bit topic_len as the copy length. The 65-byte topic[] destination overruns into adjacent struct fields including the payload_chunk pointer, which subsequent MQTT code dereferences, giving a compromised or attacker-controlled broker an arbitrary-pointer-write primitive. Contiki-NG's MQTT implementation has no TLS support so the connection is plaintext. Impact ranges from information disclosure and denial of service to remote code execution on embedded targets without memory protection.

Published 06 Aug 2026, 22:18 UTC Last modified 06 Aug 2026, 22:18 UTC
01

Attack profile

The conditions required to exploit this vulnerability and its potential impact.

Attack vector Network
Attack complexity High
Privileges required None
User interaction None
Scope Not assessed
Confidentiality Not assessed
Integrity Not assessed
Availability Not assessed
02

Affected products

Product applicability statements supplied with the NVD record.

NVD has not published structured affected-product data for this record.
03

Weakness classification

CWE categories help security teams group the underlying software weakness.

04

Source references

External advisories, patches and technical reports attached to this CVE record.