CVE-2025-66168 MEDIUM

CVE-2025-66168: Apache ActiveMQ, Apache ActiveMQ All Module, Apache ActiveMQ MQTT Module: MQTT control packet remaining length field is not properly validated

Vendor Apache Software Foundation
Product Apache ActiveMQ
Weakness CWE-190
Published March 4, 2026
Last update April 10, 2026

CVSS base score

5.4/10
Attack vector Network
Attack complexity Low
Privileges required Low
User interaction None
Confidentiality Low
Integrity Low

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

What the vulnerability does

Description

WARNING: Users of 6.x should upgrade to 6.2.4 or later as the fix was missed in previous 6.x releases. See the  following for more details: https://activemq.apache.org/security-advisories.data/CVE-2026-40046-announcement.txt https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-40046 Original Report: Apache ActiveMQ does not properly validate the remaining length field which may lead to an overflow during the decoding of malformed packets. When this integer overflow occurs, ActiveMQ may incorrectly compute the total Remaining Length and subsequently misinterpret the payload as multiple MQTT control packets which makes the broker susceptible to unexpected behavior when interacting with non-compliant clients. This behavior violates the MQTT v3.1.1 specification, which restricts Remaining Length to a maximum of 4 bytes. The scenario occurs on established connections after the authentication process. Brokers that are not enabling mqtt transport connectors are not impacted. This issue affects Apache ActiveMQ: before 5.19.2, 6.0.0 to 6.1.8, and 6.2.0 Users are recommended to upgrade to version 5.19.2, 6.1.9, or 6.2.1, which fixes the issue.

Key dates

Disclosure timeline

March 4, 2026 CVE published
April 10, 2026 Record updated