Tinymqtt: Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime
CVE-2025-56353 is a high-severity missing release of memory after effective lifetime vulnerability in Tinymqtt from Justdoit0910, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an unauthenticated attacker, without any action from a user. Affected Tinymqtt versions: 2024-02-18. The record does not name a fixed version, so check the vendor advisory. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.33% chance of exploitation within 30 days, which is low compared with other CVEs.
High severity with no evidence of exploitation so far.
What to do
- Check which version of Tinymqtt you run against the affected versions below, and install the vendor's latest release.
- Until you can update, restrict network access to the affected service so it is not reachable from untrusted networks.
Affected products and versions
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Justdoit0910 | Tinymqtt | 2024-02-18 | Not stated |
Version data comes from NVD's product matching. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.
How the severity score breaks down
- Attack vector
- NetworkCan be exploited remotely over a network, including the internet.
- Attack complexity
- LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
- Privileges required
- NoneNo account or login is needed.
- User interaction
- NoneNo action by a victim is required.
- Scope
- UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.
- Confidentiality
- NoneNo data is disclosed.
- Integrity
- NoneNothing can be modified.
- Availability
- HighThe component can be taken down completely.
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H. Scored by CISA (ADP).
Official description
In tinyMQTT commit 6226ade15bd4f97be2d196352e64dd10937c1962 (2024-02-18), a memory leak occurs due to the broker's failure to validate or reject malformed UTF-8 strings in topic filters. An attacker can exploit this by sending repeated subscription requests with arbitrarily large or invalid filter payloads. Each request causes memory to be allocated for the malformed topic filter, but the broker does not free the associated memory, leading to unbounded heap growth and potential denial of service under sustained attack.
Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.
The underlying weakness: Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime
The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, making the memory unavailable for reallocation and reuse.
How developers prevent this class of flaw
- Choose a language or tool that provides automatic memory management, or makes manual memory management less error-prone. For example, glibc in Linux provides protection against free of invalid pointers. When using Xcode to target OS X or iOS, enable automatic reference counting (ARC). To help correctly and consistently manage memory when programming in C++, consider using a smart pointer class such as std
- Use an abstraction library to abstract away risky APIs. Not a complete solution.
- Consider using the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage collector (bdwgc), which can help avoid leaks.
More Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime vulnerabilities (CWE-401)
Timeline
- CVE record published.
- CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: none, automatable: yes, technical impact: partial).
- Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).
References
Technical write-ups (may include proof of concept)
- github.com/JustDoIt0910/tinyMQTT/issues/19Exploit, Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory
Recent Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime vulnerabilities
- 8.7 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.8 High severity
- 7.8 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
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