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Public proof of conceptFix availableAwaiting NVD analysis

CVE-2026-72712

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

  • Published2026-08-11
  • WeaknessCWE-835

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

Nmap versions up to and including 7.99 contains a denial of service vulnerability that allows remote attackers to crash the application by sending a crafted packet containing a zero-length TCP option. The malformed packet forces the Packet:parse_options() function in nselib/packet.lua to allocate objects in an infinite loop, causing an out-of-memory condition that results in application crash.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2026-08-1118:18CVE publishedNVD

Versions per branch

Products declared by the CNA1 product

As VulnCheck, the CNA that assigned this CVE, declared them in the CVE record; versions as written.

  • Nmap Project Nmapother versions: affected
    Affected
    • ≤ 7.99no fix statedcustom

Source: the CNA record (CVE Program), © The MITRE Corporation,CVE Terms of UseCVE recordupdated 2026-08-11

Distribution builds and vendor advisories

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Packages

  • libsoupSUSE:Linux Micro 6.2all versions · fixed in 3.6.6-160000.5.1
  • nmapUbuntu:26.10all versions · no fixed version listed
  • nmapUbuntu:26.04:LTSall versions · no fixed version listed
  • nmapUbuntu:24.04:LTSall versions · no fixed version listed
  • nmapUbuntu:22.04:LTSall versions · no fixed version listed
  • nmapUbuntu:20.04:LTSall versions · no fixed version listed
  • nmapUbuntu:18.04:LTSall versions · no fixed version listed
  • nmapUbuntu:16.04:LTSall versions · no fixed version listed

16 more package ranges on OSV.dev

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2026-72712 Red Hat Product Security13 known affected

    nmap: Nmap: Denial of Service via zero-length TCP option packet

    nmap-ncat as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 · nmap.src as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 · nmap-frontend as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 · +10 more

Full record on NVD

Fix

  1. Workaround from the vendor Red Hat Product Security CVE-2026-72712 · 13 productsTo mitigate this issue, avoid running Nmap with Network Scripting Engine (NSE) scripts that perform raw packet dissection against untrusted or potentially malicious network targets. This vulnerability is triggered by specially crafted TCP packets when Nmap is actively scanning with such scripts. If…
  2. No fix available, says the vendor Red Hat Product Security CVE-2026-72712 · 11 productsFix deferred
  3. No fix planned, says the vendor Red Hat Product Security CVE-2026-72712 · 2 productsOut of support scope

Detection

Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof of concept
Metasploit modules
none listed
Metasploit Framework

Sources

  • NVDCVE recordread 2026-10-24
  • CISA-ADPSSVC decisionpoc2026-08-13
  • CNACVSS 4.06.9known since 2026-10-24
  • CNACVSS 3.16.5known since 2026-10-24
  • CNAweakness (CWE)CWE-835known since 2026-10-24
  • FIRST EPSSEPSS score0.5 %2026-11-09
  • OSVaffected packages—
  • GitHub Advisoriesadvisory—

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS 4.0 vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Published
2026-08-11
Last Modified
2026-10-24
NVD status
Awaiting Analysis
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-7j7x-fg87-hwwg

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-72712?

Nmap versions up to and including 7.99 contains a denial of service vulnerability that allows remote attackers to crash the application by sending a crafted packet containing a zero-length TCP option. The malformed packet forces the Packet:parse_options() function in nselib/packet.lua to allocate objects in an infinite loop, causing an out-of-memory condition that results in application crash.

Is CVE-2026-72712 actively exploited?

A proof-of-concept exploit exists for CVE-2026-72712, but active exploitation has not been confirmed at this time.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-72712?

CVE-2026-72712 has a CVSS v3 base score of 6.5 (MEDIUM severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

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