CVE-2026-72854

msgpack-c Integer Overflow in msgpack_unpacker_expand_buffer Causes a False-Success Undersized Reservation

CVE-2026-72854 is fixed in msgpack-c on 1 platform, first by DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72854, released August 20, 2026. It is not reported as exploited. Patch Radar priority: Routine.

Routine
CVSS
5.3
Moderate
Exploitation
None reported
No vendor assessment
CISA KEV
Not listed
Not in the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
EPSS
0.0016
4th percentile

msgpack_unpacker_expand_buffer in src/unpack.c, reached through the public msgpack_unpacker_reserve_buffer API, computes its new buffer size using an unchecked size_t addition of the requested size and the amount already used. The doubling loop guards its own multiplication against overflow, but the addition in the loop condition is unguarded, so a request near SIZE_MAX wraps: the loop condition is already satisfied, the allocation is performed at the small pre-wrap size, and the function returns true. The caller is told the requested capacity was reserved when it was not, so a subsequent write of the requested length overflows the heap buffer. The library's own example/lib_buffer_unpack.c demonstrates the reserve-then-write pattern, and its defensive assert comparing capacity against the request is compiled out under NDEBUG. msgpack-c's own decode entry points do not derive the reservation size from untrusted input, so reaching this requires an integration that passes an attacker-influenced length to the reservation API, such as a length-prefixed streaming transport.

Where it's fixed

ProductFixed inFixReleased
Linux
msgpack-c · Debian 14 7.0.2-1 DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72854 Aug 20, 2026
msgpack-c · opensuse-leap 16.0 7.0.2-160000.1.1 OPENSUSE-SU-2026:21768-1 Sep 6, 2026
msgpack-c · sles 16.0 7.0.2-160000.1.1 SUSE-SU-2026:23630-1 Sep 6, 2026

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