CVE-2026-42504
Description
A flaw was found in the Golang MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) package. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a maliciously-crafted MIME header containing many invalid encoded-words. This could lead to excessive CPU consumption, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS) for the affected system.
Statement
This is rated as an Important severity flaw. A remote attacker could trigger a Denial of Service by sending a crafted MIME header with numerous invalid encoded-words to an application utilizing the affected Golang MIME package. This could lead to excessive CPU consumption on the system processing the malformed header, impacting service availability.
Mitigation
To mitigate this issue, restrict network access to services that process MIME headers from untrusted sources. Implement input validation and sanitization for all incoming data, especially MIME headers, to prevent maliciously crafted content from being processed by applications utilizing the vulnerable Golang MIME package.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 7.5 | N/A | 7.5 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Network |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | None |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | None |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (Other); Reduce Performance
This issue can make the product perform more slowly. If an attacker can influence the number of iterations in the loop, then this performance problem might allow a denial of service by consuming more platform resources than intended.
Frequently Asked Questions
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