CVE-2026-86040 PUBLISHED

libp2p: Unbounded RPC decode + synchronous subscription processing in @libp2p/floodsub allows unauthenticated DoS

Assigner: GitHub_M
Reserved: 04.09.2026 Published: 17.09.2026 Updated: 17.09.2026

libp2p is a JavaScript implementation of the libp2p networking stack. Prior to 11.0.26, @libp2p/floodsub accepts unauthenticated RPC frames on /floodsub/1.0.0 through PeerStreams.attachInboundStream in packages/floodsub/src/peer-streams.ts without protobuf element limits, then processRpc and processRpcSubOpt in packages/floodsub/src/floodsub.ts synchronously process the subscriptions array without a per-frame cap. A single bounded-size frame can decode into millions of empty subscription entries that block the event loop, while hundreds of thousands of unique-topic SUBSCRIBE entries allocate PeerSet objects in this.topics that are not removed after peer removal or stop. Empty entries cause CPU exhaustion but do not grow this.topics; persistent memory growth requires unique topics. The subscription path bypasses message signature validation and the message-only processing queue, allowing a remote peer to cause sustained CPU denial of service, memory exhaustion, out-of-memory termination, and node unavailability. The issue is fixed in version 11.0.26.

Metrics

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS Score: 7.5

Product Status

Vendor libp2p
Product js-libp2p
Versions
  • Version < 11.0.26 is affected
Vendor @libp2p
Product floodsub
Versions
  • Version < 11.0.26 is affected

References

Problem Types

  • CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption CWE
  • CWE-401: Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime CWE
  • CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling CWE