Nmap Project up to 7.99 Packet Parsing nselib/packet.lua Packet:parse_options denial of service

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic was found in Nmap Project Nmap up to 7.99. Affected by this vulnerability is the function Packet:parse_options of the file nselib/packet.lua of the component Packet Parsing. Such manipulation leads to denial of service. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2026-72712. The attack may be performed from remote. There is no available exploit.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in Nmap Project Nmap up to 7.99. Affected by this issue is the function Packet:parse_options of the file nselib/packet.lua of the component Packet Parsing. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a denial of service vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-404. The product does not release or incorrectly releases a resource before it is made available for re-use. Impacted is availability. CVE summarizes:

Nmap versions up to and including 7.99 contains a denial of service vulnerability that allows remote attackers to crash the application by sending a crafted packet containing a zero-length TCP option. The malformed packet forces the Packet:parse_options() function in nselib/packet.lua to allocate objects in an infinite loop, causing an out-of-memory condition that results in application crash.

The advisory is shared for download at github.com. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-72712 since 08/10/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. No form of authentication is required for exploitation. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The MITRE ATT&CK project declares the attack technique as T1499.

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Project Management Software

Vendor

• Nmap Project

Name

• Nmap

Version

• 7.0
• 7.1
• 7.2
• 7.3
• 7.4
• 7.5
• 7.6
• 7.7
• 7.8
• 7.9
• 7.10
• 7.11
• 7.12
• 7.13
• 7.14
• 7.15
• 7.16
• 7.17
• 7.18
• 7.19
• 7.20
• 7.21
• 7.22
• 7.23
• 7.24
• 7.25
• 7.26
• 7.27
• 7.28
• 7.29
• 7.30
• 7.31
• 7.32
• 7.33
• 7.34
• 7.35
• 7.36
• 7.37
• 7.38
• 7.39
• 7.40
• 7.41
• 7.42
• 7.43
• 7.44
• 7.45
• 7.46
• 7.47
• 7.48
• 7.49
• 7.50
• 7.51
• 7.52
• 7.53
• 7.54
• 7.55
• 7.56
• 7.57
• 7.58
• 7.59
• 7.60
• 7.61
• 7.62
• 7.63
• 7.64
• 7.65
• 7.66
• 7.67
• 7.68
• 7.69
• 7.70
• 7.71
• 7.72
• 7.73
• 7.74
• 7.75
• 7.76
• 7.77
• 7.78
• 7.79
• 7.80
• 7.81
• 7.82
• 7.83
• 7.84
• 7.85
• 7.86
• 7.87
• 7.88
• 7.89
• 7.90
• 7.91
• 7.92
• 7.93
• 7.94
• 7.95
• 7.96
• 7.97
• 7.98
• 7.99

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

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Entryinfo

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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