CVE-2023-46120 is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.9) Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in com.rabbitmq:amqp-client. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for com.rabbitmq:amqp-client — see the affected versions and patch details below.
RabbitMQ Java client's lack of message size limitation leads to remote DoS attack
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2023-46120.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2023-46120 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
com.rabbitmq:amqp-clientReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
The RabbitMQ Java client library allows Java and JVM-based applications to connect to and interact with RabbitMQ nodes. maxBodyLebgth was not used when receiving Message objects. Attackers could send a very large Message causing a memory overflow and triggering an OOM Error. Users of RabbitMQ may suffer from DoS attacks from RabbitMQ Java client which will ultimately exhaust the memory of the consumer. This vulnerability was patched in version 5.18.0.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | com.rabbitmq:amqp-client | all versions | 5.18.0com.rabbitmq:amqp-client:5.18.0 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for com.rabbitmq:amqp-client, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update com.rabbitmq:amqp-client to 5.18.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-46120 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2023-46120 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-46120. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-46120 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-46120 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.