node-opcua: Unbounded nonce cache enables unauthenticated heap exhaustion DoS

node-opcua is an OPC UA implementation for TypeScript and Node.js. Prior to 2.166.0, the process-global g_alreadyUsedNonce cache used by nonceAlreadyBeenUsed in packages/node-opcua-secure-channel/source/server/server_secure_channel_layer.ts records nonces from OpenSecureChannelRequest and CreateSession without expiration or a size limit. An unauthenticated remote attacker can repeatedly create sessions with unique nonces, causing entries to persist after session expiry and accumulate across connection cycles even when maxSessions=10 limits concurrent sessions. The resulting unbounded heap growth can exhaust the default Node.js heap and crash the node-opcua server process. This issue is fixed in version 2.166.0.

Source published

14 Sep 2026 16:09:07 UTC

Source modified

14 Sep 2026 16:35:48 UTC

Observed here

23 Oct 2026 15:48:27 UTC

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CVSS 3.1 · 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H