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Medium

Apache ActiveMQ: Unchecked buffer length can cause excessive memory allocation

Type: advisorySources: OSV

Memory Allocation with Excessive Size Value vulnerability in Apache ActiveMQ. During unmarshalling of OpenWire commands the size value of buffers was not properly validated which could lead to excessive memory allocation and be exploited to cause a denial of service (DoS) by depleting process memory, thereby affecting applications and services that rely on the availability of the ActiveMQ broker when not using mutual TLS connections. This issue affects Apache ActiveMQ: from 6.0.0 before 6.1.6, from 5.18.0 before 5.18.7, from 5.17.0 before 5.17.7, before 5.16.8. ActiveMQ 5.19.0 is not affected. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 6.1.6+, 5.19.0+, 5.18.7+, 5.17.7, or 5.16.8 or which fixes the issue. Existing users may implement mutual TLS to mitigate the risk on affected brokers.

Products
Not specified
Affected versions
Not specified
Fixed versions
Not specified
CVEs
CVE-2025-27533
Confirmed fixed CVEs
Not specified
Updated in this feed
5 Nov 2026, 01:45 UTC · Revision 1

Source evidence

Apache ActiveMQ: Unchecked buffer length can cause excessive memory allocation

core-osv · Original source

Published 7 May 2025, 08:59 UTC

Memory Allocation with Excessive Size Value vulnerability in Apache ActiveMQ. During unmarshalling of OpenWire commands the size value of buffers was not properly validated which could lead to excessive memory allocation and be exploited to cause a denial of service (DoS) by depleting process memory, thereby affecting applications and services that rely on the availability of the ActiveMQ broker when not using mutual TLS connections. This issue affects Apache ActiveMQ: from 6.0.0 before 6.1.6, from 5.18.0 before 5.18.7, from 5.17.0 before 5.17.7, before 5.16.8. ActiveMQ 5.19.0 is not affected. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 6.1.6+, 5.19.0+, 5.18.7+, 5.17.7, or 5.16.8 or which fixes the issue. Existing users may implement mutual TLS to mitigate the risk on affected brokers.

osv:CVE-2025-27533
Complete source record
{
  "id": "571ac6b2d99fae4dee2ec228b64ee771037f96c1dab320659be0f61f176659f6",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-27533",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "Apache ActiveMQ: Unchecked buffer length can cause excessive memory allocation",
    "summary": "Memory Allocation with Excessive Size Value vulnerability in Apache ActiveMQ. During unmarshalling of OpenWire commands the size value of buffers was not properly validated which could lead to excessive memory allocation and be exploited to cause a denial of service (DoS) by depleting process memory, thereby affecting applications and services that rely on the availability of the ActiveMQ broker when not using mutual TLS connections. This issue affects Apache ActiveMQ: from 6.0.0 before 6.1.6, from 5.18.0 before 5.18.7, from 5.17.0 before 5.17.7, before 5.16.8. ActiveMQ 5.19.0 is not affected. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 6.1.6+, 5.19.0+, 5.18.7+, 5.17.7, or 5.16.8 or which fixes the issue. Existing users may implement mutual TLS to mitigate the risk on affected brokers.",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2025-27533",
    "products": [],
    "severity": "medium",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2025-27533",
      "aliases": [
        "BIT-activemq-2025-27533",
        "CVE-2025-27533",
        "GHSA-whxr-3p84-rf3c"
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "type": "CVSS_V4",
          "score": "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:H/AU:Y/R:A/V:D/RE:M/U:Red"
        }
      ],
      "affected": [
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "repo": "https://github.com/apache/activemq",
              "type": "GIT",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "86dd78b1aa64cbf0af15669c0e4af62dfae0d158"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "f734c20b62fd20b078218a9cb1e56033f4a40966"
                },
                {
                  "introduced": "1f3ccad9bb330cbd7468f9f10ac0b542e7f8b51b"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "a7f11e2d72bf8cab694e14180f120810d6ae1211"
                },
                {
                  "introduced": "f18f3223fab0d36f7928d2bb7ae488edf3c5bc12"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "7c03f67d46ae290ca49d549215277ab384c2bb8a"
                },
                {
                  "introduced": "14bac13f40958c1a1d3d198051eed32facc4abd1"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "e4dbde5cfeed039510acd97e8731cc3da121a976"
                }
              ],
              "database_specific": {
                "extracted_events": [
                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:apache:activemq:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "5.16.0"
                      },
                      {
                        "fixed": "5.16.8"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "CPE_RANGE"
                  },
                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:apache:activemq:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "5.17.0"
                      },
                      {
                        "fixed": "5.17.7"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "CPE_RANGE"
                  },
                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:apache:activemq:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "5.18.0"
                      },
                      {
                        "fixed": "5.18.7"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "CPE_RANGE"
                  },
                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:apache:activemq:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "6.0.0"
                      },
                      {
                        "fixed": "6.1.6"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "CPE_RANGE"
                  }
                ]
              }
            }
          ],
          "versions": [
            "activemq-6.1.5",
            "activemq-6.1.4",
            "activemq-5.18.6",
            "activemq-6.1.3",
            "activemq-5.18.5",
            "activemq-6.1.2",
            "activemq-5.18.4",
            "activemq-6.1.1",
            "activemq-6.1.0",
            "activemq-6.0.0",
            "activemq-5.16.7",
            "activemq-5.17.6",
            "activemq-5.18.3",
            "activemq-5.17.5",
            "activemq-5.18.2",
            "activemq-5.18.1",
            "activemq-5.18.0",
            "activemq-5.17.4",
            "activemq-5.16.6",
            "activemq-5.17.3",
            "activemq-5.17.2",
            "activemq-5.16.5",
            "activemq-5.17.1",
            "activemq-5.17.0",
            "activemq-5.16.4",
            "activemq-5.16.3",
            "activemq-5.16.2",
            "activemq-5.16.1",
            "activemq-5.16.0"
          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2025-27533.json"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-28T02:30:41.421947191Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/06/msg00020.html",
        "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2025/27xxx/CVE-2025-27533.json",
        "https://lists.apache.org/thread/8hcm25vf7mchg4zbbhnlx2lc5bs705hg",
        "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-27533"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {
        "cwe_ids": [
          "CWE-789"
        ],
        "cna_assigner": "apache",
        "unresolved_ranges": [
          {
            "extracted_events": [
              {
                "range": [
                  {
                    "introduced": "6.0.0"
                  },
                  {
                    "fixed": "6.1.6"
                  },
                  {
                    "introduced": "5.18.0"
                  },
                  {
                    "fixed": "5.18.7"
                  },
                  {
                    "introduced": "5.17.0"
                  },
                  {
                    "fixed": "5.17.7"
                  },
                  {
                    "introduced": "5.16.0"
                  },
                  {
                    "fixed": "5.16.8"
                  }
                ],
                "source": "AFFECTED_FIELD",
                "strategy": "StandardRange"
              }
            ]
          }
        ],
        "osv_generated_from": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2025/27xxx/CVE-2025-27533.json"
      }
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2025-27533",
        "evidence": "/id"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 509184,
  "published_at": "2025-05-07T08:59:00.249+00:00"
}