Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/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
Triggered by a single unauthenticated network frame from a broker-positioned attacker; pure availability impact (OOM or hung connection), no confidentiality or integrity loss, no scope change.
Primary rating from Vendor (VulnCheck).
CVSS VectorVendor: VulnCheck
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/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
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6DescriptionCVE.org
kafka-python prior to 2.3.2 contains a denial-of-service vulnerability in the protocol parser that allows a malicious broker or machine-in-the-middle attacker to exhaust memory or hang connections by sending a crafted 4-byte frame length value without bounds validation. Attackers can send a specially crafted frame length through the receive_bytes() function to trigger either a multi-gigabyte memory allocation or an uncaught ValueError that leaves the connection in a broken state, causing requests to hang and consumers to stop heartbeating until restart.
Articles & Coverage 2
AnalysisAI
Denial of service in the kafka-python client library (versions prior to 2.3.2) allows a malicious Kafka broker or man-in-the-middle attacker to exhaust client memory or wedge connections by sending a crafted 4-byte frame length header. The protocol parser's receive_bytes() function performs no bounds check on the declared frame size, leading to multi-gigabyte allocations or uncaught ValueError exceptions that stop consumer heartbeats. …
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Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata
Vulnerability AssessmentAI
| Exploitation | Attacker must be able to deliver bytes to the kafka-python client's TCP socket as if they were a Kafka broker response - either by operating a broker the victim bootstraps against, compromising a legitimate broker, or sitting on the network path of a non-TLS Kafka connection. … Additional conditions and limiting factors are described in the full assessment. |
| Risk Assessment | CVSS 4.0 8.7 is driven entirely by VA:H with VC:N/VI:N - this is a pure availability bug, not RCE or data exposure. … Full risk analysis with EPSS, KEV, and SSVC signal comparison available after sign-in. |
| Exploit Scenario | An attacker who controls a Kafka broker the victim client connects to (e.g., a malicious tenant in a shared cluster, a rogue insider, or a network attacker on plaintext Kafka traffic) sends a response frame whose 4-byte length prefix declares ~2 GB. The kafka-python parser attempts to allocate that buffer, exhausting victim process memory and triggering OOM-kill, or alternatively raises an uncaught ValueError that leaves the consumer's connection state broken and stops group heartbeats until the process is restarted. … |
| Remediation | Vendor-released patch: upgrade kafka-python to 2.3.2 or later, which adds bounds checking in KafkaProtocol.receive_bytes() via _validate_frame_size() and exposes a configurable receive_message_max_bytes ceiling (default 1 MB at the connection layer). … Detailed patch versions, workarounds, and compensating controls in full report. |
Recommended ActionAI
Within 24 hours: Inventory all kafka-python deployments and identify affected versions (prior to 2.3.2) across development, staging, and production environments. …
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External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today
EUVD-2026-36123
GHSA-m3px-q5gj-j9x7