CVE-2025-66168
Published:March 04, 2026
Updated:June 27, 2026
WARNING:
Users of 6.x should upgrade to 6.2.4 or later as the fix was missed in previous 6.x releases.
See the following for more details:
https://activemq.apache.org/security-advisories.data/CVE-2026-40046-announcement.txt
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-40046
Original Report:
Apache ActiveMQ does not properly validate the remaining length field which may lead to an overflow during the decoding of malformed packets. When this integer overflow occurs, ActiveMQ may incorrectly compute the total Remaining Length and subsequently misinterpret the payload as multiple MQTT control packets which makes the broker susceptible to unexpected behavior when interacting with non-compliant clients. This behavior violates the MQTT v3.1.1 specification, which restricts Remaining Length to a maximum of 4 bytes. The scenario occurs on established connections after the authentication process. Brokers that are not enabling mqtt transport connectors are not impacted.
This issue affects Apache ActiveMQ: before 5.19.2, 6.0.0 to 6.1.8, and 6.2.0
Users are recommended to upgrade to version 5.19.2, 6.1.9, or 6.2.1, which fixes the issue.
Affected Packages
org.apache.activemq:activemq-mqtt (JAVA):
Affected version(s) =6.2.0 <6.2.1Fix Suggestion:
Update to version 6.2.1org.apache.activemq:activemq-all (JAVA):
Affected version(s) >=4.1.2 <5.19.2Fix Suggestion:
Update to version 5.19.2org.apache.activemq:apache-activemq (JAVA):
Affected version(s) >=4.1.0-incubator <5.19.2Fix Suggestion:
Update to version 5.19.2org.apache.activemq:activemq-mqtt (JAVA):
Affected version(s) >=5.8.0 <5.19.2Fix Suggestion:
Update to version 5.19.2org.apache.activemq:activemq-all (JAVA):
Affected version(s) =6.2.0 <6.2.1Fix Suggestion:
Update to version 6.2.1org.apache.activemq:activemq-all (JAVA):
Affected version(s) >=4.1.2 <5.19.2Fix Suggestion:
Update to version 5.19.2org.apache.activemq:activemq-all (JAVA):
Affected version(s) >=6.0.0 <6.1.9Fix Suggestion:
Update to version 6.1.9Related Resources (6)
Do you need more information?
Contact UsCVSS v4
Base Score:
5.3
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Attack Requirements
NONE
Privileges Required
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Vulnerable System Confidentiality
LOW
Vulnerable System Integrity
LOW
Vulnerable System Availability
NONE
Subsequent System Confidentiality
NONE
Subsequent System Integrity
NONE
Subsequent System Availability
NONE
CVSS v3
Base Score:
5.4
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
LOW
Integrity
LOW
Availability
NONE
Weakness Type (CWE)
Integer Overflow or Wraparound
EPSS
Base Score:
0.78