CVE-2026-48779: ws: Memory exhaustion DoS from tiny fragments and data chunks
Description
ws is an open source WebSocket client and server for Node.js. All versions from 1.1.0 up to (but not including) 5.2.5, from 6.0.0 up to 6.2.4, from 7.0.0 up to 7.5.11, and from 8.0.0 up to 8.21.0 are affected by a memory exhaustion DoS vulnerability. A peer can send a high volume of exceptionally small fragments and data chunks, with modest network traffic, to force the remote peer into allocating and holding structural wrappers that consume far more memory than the default documented message-size limit, leading to process termination due to OOM. This issue has been fixed in versions 5.2.5, 6.2.4, 7.5.11, and 8.21.0.
Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H · CWE-400, CWE-770
Tracked companies
Mapped from the CVE’s affected-product data, NVD CPE matches, vendor advisories or package feeds. A mapping means the vendor’s software is named, not that its hosted service was exposed.
Status incidents that name it
No tracked status incident names this CVE.
Affected vendors and products
Red Hat: Cryostat 4Red Hat: Gatekeeper 3Red Hat: OpenShift LightspeedRed Hat: OpenShift PipelinesRed Hat: Red Hat AMQ Broker 7.13.6Red Hat: Red Hat AMQ Broker 7.14.1Red Hat: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2Red Hat: Red Hat build of Apache Camel for Spring Boot 4Red Hat: Red Hat build of Apache Camel - HawtIO 4Red Hat: Red Hat Build of KeycloakRed Hat: Red Hat Build of Podman DesktopRed Hat: Red Hat Build of Podman Desktop - Tech PreviewRed Hat: Red Hat Connectivity Link 1Red Hat: Red Hat Data Grid 8Red Hat: Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI) 3Red Hat: Red Hat Fuse 7Red Hat: Red Hat Hardened ImagesRed Hat: Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 8Red Hat: Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform Expansion PackRed Hat: Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI)Red Hat: Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4Red Hat: Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization 4Red Hat: Red Hat Quay 3Red Hat: Red Hat Satellite 6Red Hat: Self-service automation portal 2websockets: ws
References
- CVE record on cve.org (opens in new tab)
- NVD entry (opens in new tab)
- github.com/websockets/ws/commit/86d3e8a5fb0246ed373860c5fbb0de88824a27f7 (opens in new tab)
- github.com/websockets/ws/commit/b5372ac67bb97a773727b8e9f5035a8123556d53 (opens in new tab)
- github.com/websockets/ws/commit/bca91adf15677e47dbe4f959653452727be28b94 (opens in new tab)
- github.com/websockets/ws/commit/fd36cd864fcdf62a08273a99e19a7d975401fee8 (opens in new tab)
- github.com/websockets/ws/security/advisories/GHSA-96hv-2xvq-fx4p (opens in new tab)
- CVE records from the CVE Program (cve.org). CVE® is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation. (opens in new tab)
- This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. (opens in new tab)
- Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog from CISA. (opens in new tab)
- EPSS scores from FIRST (Exploit Prediction Scoring System). (opens in new tab)