CVE-2026-42533
NVD analysis in progress
A vulnerability exists in NGINX Plus and NGINX Open Source when a map directive uses regex matching and a string expression references the map's regex capture variables before referencing the map output variable. Alternatively, the same result could be achieved by using a non-cacheable variable in a string expression under certain conditions. An unauthenticated attacker along with conditions beyond their control can exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted HTTP requests. This may cause a heap buffer overflow in the NGINX worker process leading to a restart. Additionally, attackers can execute code on systems with Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) disabled or when the attacker can bypass ASLR. Impact: This vulnerability may allow remote attackers to cause a denial-of-service (DoS) on the NGINX system or to possibly trigger a code execution. There is no control plane exposure; this is a data plane issue only. Note: Software versions which have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) are not evaluated.
What this means
- Exposure
- Exploitable remotely over the network, without authentication and with no action from the victim. The attack does require particular conditions, which makes it less systematic.
- Impact
- An attacker can read sensitive data, modify or destroy data and take the service offline.
- Weakness
- A heap overflow corrupts allocator structures and can lead to code execution.
- Likelihood
- Its EPSS score puts short-term exploitation in a middle band: neither negligible nor imminent.
What to doFold into the next patch cycle. Start with the instances exposed to the internet.
Read automatically from the CVSS vector, the weakness type (CWE) and the EPSS score. The technical description above remains the one published by NIST.