---
id: CVE-2026-118488
title: >-
  Heap exhaustion via unbounded simple string or bulk string allocation in
  Vert.x Redis client
summary: >-
  In Eclipse Vert.x versions [4.0.0, 4.5.35] or [5.0.0, 5.2.2], when a malicious
  server keeps sending bytes on an EOL-terminated line (not length-prefixed, for
  example a simple string [1]), we'll keep growing the buffer without bounds,
  eve…
severity: medium
cvss: 5.9
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cvssSource: cna
vendor: Eclipse Foundation
product: Eclipse Vert.x
affected:
  - eclipse_vert.x >= 4.0.0 <= 4.5.35
  - eclipse_vert.x >= 5.0.0 <= 5.2.2
ssvc:
  exploitation: poc
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-11-03T18:04:20.615626Z'
exploitAvailable: true
published: '2026-11-03'
updated: '2026-11-03'
sourceUpdated: '2026-11-03T18:04:57.987Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-118488'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/vert-x3/vertx-redis-client/security/advisories/GHSA-7f58-g87w-gx7p
  - url: 'https://gitlab.eclipse.org/security/cve-assignment/-/work_items/522'
tags:
  - cve.org
  - exploit-available
epss: 0.00433
epssPercentile: 0.37749
ingestedAt: '2026-11-05T20:33:06.340Z'
---

## Overview

In Eclipse Vert.x versions [4.0.0, 4.5.35] or [5.0.0, 5.2.2], when a malicious server keeps sending bytes on an EOL-terminated line (not length-prefixed, for example a simple string [1]), we'll keep growing the buffer without bounds, eventually leading to an OOM. We need to have a configurable limit for EOL-terminated lines.



If a malicious server sends a specially crafted RESP response (for example a bulk string [2] with missing CRLF trailer), the parser enters an infinite loop where it keeps parsing the same buffer and pushing the same response to the caller, which may lead e.g. to an OOM if the consumer just buffers the responses. We must fix the parser to avoid this infinite looping.

## Affected

- `eclipse_vert.x >= 4.0.0 <= 4.5.35`
- `eclipse_vert.x >= 5.0.0 <= 5.2.2`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.