Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Network-delivered malicious server response requires no attacker authentication; impact is crash-only with no confidentiality or integrity consequence.
Primary rating from Vendor (mitre).
CVSS VectorVendor: mitre
Lifecycle Timeline
4DescriptionCVE.org
open62541 1.5.5 contains a buffer-overflow in the high-level attribute reading logic in src/client/ua_client_highlevel.c. This allows a remote attacker to cause a denial of service.
AnalysisAI
Buffer overflow in open62541 1.5.5's client-side high-level attribute reading logic crashes OPC UA client processes when handling maliciously crafted server responses, resulting in denial of service. The flaw resides in src/client/ua_client_highlevel.c and is reachable whenever a client built on open62541 1.5.5 reads node attributes from an attacker-controlled or compromised OPC UA server. No public exploit code has been identified and EPSS at 0.21% (11th percentile) reflects low current exploitation probability; no CISA KEV listing.
Technical ContextAI
open62541 is a widely adopted open-source OPC UA (Unified Architecture) protocol stack written in C, used in industrial automation, SCADA systems, PLCs, and IoT gateways. The vulnerable component is src/client/ua_client_highlevel.c, the high-level client API layer that abstracts node attribute read operations over the OPC UA binary protocol. When the client issues a ReadRequest and processes the server's ReadResponse, the attribute parsing logic in this file fails to adequately bound a buffer, triggering the overflow. Notably, the assigned CWE is CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) rather than CWE-120 or CWE-122 (Buffer Copy/Heap-Based Buffer Overflow), which is inconsistent with the description's explicit mention of a buffer overflow; the root cause class is therefore not definitively confirmed by the available metadata alone. The affected surface is the OPC UA client side - exploitation is server-initiated, delivered to the connecting client.
RemediationAI
The primary remediation is to upgrade open62541 beyond version 1.5.5; however, no specific patched release version is confirmed in the available data. The fix status must be tracked directly via the GitHub issue at https://github.com/open62541/open62541/issues/8139 and the open62541 release page before upgrading, as only an upstream issue report - not a tagged release - has been referenced. As a compensating control for environments that cannot immediately patch, restrict OPC UA client connections exclusively to a static allowlist of trusted, network-isolated OPC UA server endpoints, preventing clients from reaching attacker-operated servers. Enforce this at the network firewall layer by limiting outbound OPC UA traffic (default TCP port 4840) to known server IPs only. Monitor OPC UA client process crashes or unexpected restarts as a potential exploitation indicator. Note: network-layer controls do not eliminate risk if a trusted server is itself compromised.
Same weakness CWE-400 – Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
View allSame technique Denial Of Service
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External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today
EUVD-2026-52996
GHSA-vqxw-7v8h-rvf2