CVE-2026-52486 in OpenDDS
Summary
by MITRE • 09/08/2026
An issue in OpenDDS 3.33.x allows a local attacker to cause a denial of service via the verify function in the SIgnedDocument module
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/09/2026
The vulnerability identified within OpenDDS versions 3.33 and earlier represents a critical flaw located specifically within the SignedDocument module, which is responsible for handling security extensions such as encryption and digital signatures in Data Distribution Service communications. This component plays a pivotal role in ensuring the integrity and authenticity of data packets exchanged between distributed system nodes. The core technical deficiency lies in the verify function, which processes incoming signed documents to validate their cryptographic signatures against trusted certificates or keys. When this verification process is executed on malformed or maliciously crafted input, it fails to properly handle edge cases related to memory allocation, buffer boundaries, or state management during the parsing of complex signature structures. This lack of robust input validation allows a local attacker who has access to the system to trigger an abnormal termination of the application process. The mechanism typically involves sending specially constructed data that causes the verification routine to encounter an unrecoverable error condition, such as a segmentation fault due to invalid pointer dereference or infinite recursion leading to stack exhaustion.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability results in a straightforward denial of service against the OpenDDS participant instance running on the affected host. Since the attack vector requires local access, it is generally less severe than remote exploitation but remains significant in environments where multiple users share system resources or where privilege escalation paths exist through compromised services. The impact includes the immediate unavailability of the DDS middleware for that specific process, which can disrupt real-time data streaming applications dependent on OpenDDS for low-latency communication. In industrial control systems, financial trading platforms, or aerospace telemetry networks that rely on deterministic and reliable message delivery, such an interruption can lead to system instability, loss of critical sensor data, or failure in coordinated multi-agent operations. The attacker does not need elevated privileges to execute the initial exploit but may leverage the resulting crash to probe for further weaknesses if the service is configured with automatic restart capabilities that do not include proper state sanitization upon recovery.
This flaw aligns closely with CWE-20 Improper Input Validation, as the root cause stems from insufficient checking of data integrity and structure before processing within the cryptographic verification logic. It also maps to ATT&CK technique T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service, specifically under subcategories involving resource exhaustion or application crashes via local exploits. The vulnerability highlights a common challenge in security middleware where performance optimizations sometimes bypass rigorous sanity checks on input parameters derived from network sources or inter-process communication channels. To mitigate this risk, organizations should prioritize upgrading to OpenDDS versions 3.34 and later, where the verify function has been patched with enhanced boundary checks and error handling routines that gracefully manage malformed inputs without crashing the host process. Additionally, implementing strict access controls on local user accounts can limit the potential attack surface by restricting who can interact with the DDS services. Deploying intrusion detection systems capable of monitoring for abnormal process termination patterns associated with specific library calls may also provide early warning indicators of exploitation attempts in production environments where patching is not immediately feasible.