CVE-2026-85449 in pMarineViewer
Summary
by MITRE • 09/04/2026
MOOS-IvP pMarineViewer through 24.8.1 fails to limit the number of tracked node identities from NODE_REPORT messages, allowing attackers to exhaust memory by supplying unbounded distinct node names. Attackers can publish crafted NODE_REPORT data to cause memory exhaustion and stall the operator display without authentication.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/04/2026
The vulnerability identified in MOOS-IvP pMarineViewer versions through 24.8.1 represents a critical resource management flaw within the application's message handling subsystem, specifically concerning the processing of NODE_REPORT messages. This software is widely utilized for monitoring and controlling autonomous underwater vehicles and other marine robotics systems, where real-time situational awareness depends heavily on accurate tracking of multiple nodes or entities in an operational environment. The core technical deficiency lies in the absence of input validation regarding the quantity of distinct node identities maintained by the viewer when processing incoming NODE_REPORT data structures. Instead of enforcing a maximum limit on tracked identifiers, the application dynamically allocates memory resources to store each new unique node name received via these messages without any upper bound or eviction policy for stale entries.
This lack of constraint allows an attacker who has network access to the communication channel used by MOOS-IvP to exploit this behavior through a denial-of-service attack vector. By publishing crafted NODE_REPORT data containing unbounded distinct node names, the attacker can force the application to continuously allocate memory for each new identity. Since there is no mechanism to discard old or irrelevant entries after a certain threshold, the process consumes increasing amounts of system RAM over time. This unchecked growth in memory usage eventually leads to resource exhaustion, causing the pMarineViewer application to become unresponsive, stall, or crash entirely due to out-of-memory conditions. The operational impact is severe for marine operations, as it effectively blinds operators by freezing the display interface that provides critical tracking information, thereby compromising situational awareness and potentially leading to mission failure or safety hazards if autonomous systems are left without oversight during such an outage.
From a security classification perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-400, which describes Uncontrolled Resource Consumption, as well as CWE-789, Memory Allocation with Excessive Size Value, given the dynamic nature of the memory allocation based on untrusted input volume rather than size per se but resulting in similar exhaustion effects. In terms of adversarial tactics, this exploit maps to MITRE ATT&CK technique T1499, Endpoint Denial of Service, specifically under sub-techniques involving resource exhaustion via application layer attacks. The attack does not require authentication, classifying it as an unauthenticated remote denial-of-service vulnerability, which significantly lowers the barrier for entry and increases the risk profile in networked marine environments where secure segmentation may be limited due to operational requirements.
Mitigation strategies should focus on implementing strict input validation and resource limits within the message processing logic of pMarineViewer. Developers must enforce a maximum limit on the number of tracked node identities, ensuring that older or less relevant entries are evicted when this threshold is reached, thereby maintaining a stable memory footprint regardless of incoming traffic volume. Additionally, rate limiting mechanisms should be applied to NODE_REPORT messages to prevent rapid ingestion of distinct identifiers from any single source. For operators unable to immediately patch the software, network-level controls such as firewalls or intrusion prevention systems can be configured to filter out malformed or excessively voluminous NODE_REPORT packets before they reach the vulnerable application instance. Regular monitoring of memory usage trends for the viewer process is also recommended to detect potential exploitation attempts early in their lifecycle.