MessagePack: Nested arrays can blow past buffer length limits

MessagePack for C# is a MessagePack serializer for C#. Prior to 2.5.303 and 3.1.9, deserializing attacker-controlled MessagePack data as System.Object through PrimitiveObjectFormatter can cause excessive memory allocation. The formatter allocates an object[] from each declared array length before the configured object-graph depth limit rejects the input, while nested array headers can reuse the same trailing unread bytes to satisfy per-header length validation. A comparatively small payload can therefore keep many large arrays alive at once. When an attacker can submit such data repeatedly, the allocations can cause severe managed-heap pressure, excessive garbage collection, process termination, or loss of service. Exposure requires an application to deserialize untrusted data through the affected formatter path and permit repeated attacker-controlled submissions, such as a reachable ASP.NET Core SignalR hub method with an object parameter and AddMessagePackProtocol() enabled. This issue is fixed in versions 2.5.303 and 3.1.9.

Source published

15 Oct 2026 18:35:49 UTC

Source modified

15 Oct 2026 20:12:15 UTC

Observed here

23 Oct 2026 15:48:27 UTC

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CVSS 3.1 · 5.3 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L