CVE-2026-123864nodejs node use after free
CVE-2026-123864 is a use after free in nodejs node, rated high (8.1 on CVSS 3.0).
Why this priority: High severity, with no exploitation signal yet.
Published · Updated · NVD status: Received
What it is
Code keeps using memory after releasing it, so an attacker who refills that memory can steer execution.
How it is reached
An attacker can exploit it over the network, without an account, and nobody has to click anything. Success also depends on conditions the attacker does not fully control.
What an attacker gains
A successful attack can take it offline. In practice, this kind of flaw lets an attacker crash the process, read memory, or in the worst case run code. The damage can spread past the vulnerable component into others.
Is it being exploited?
There is no public report of exploitation yet.
What to do
- Upgrade nodejs node to a fixed version for your release line (22.23.5, 24.22.3, 26.13.1).
- Until it is patched, keep it off the internet or behind a VPN, allowlist or authenticating proxy.
Description from NVD
A re-entrancy flaw in Node.js HTTPS lets an unauthenticated client read memory belonging to other connections, including TLS private keys and other users' requests. TLSWrap::DoWrite() calls ClearOut() directly when asked to write zero bytes; if that write is issued from JavaScript running inside the HTTP parser's on_body callback, ClearOut() decrypts the next TLS record while the parser is still mid-body, re-entering llhttp_execute() and causing a use-after-free and an out-of-bounds heap read. The server then copies that freed or unrelated heap memory into the response for the request body. Triggering it requires a handler that calls res.flushHeaders() before the request body ends and later calls res.end() with a non-empty chunk, and reading the leaked memory requires any ordinary route that echoes or stores a request body. Cleartext node:http is not affected. This vulnerability affects Node.js 26.x, 24.x, and 22.x.
What this means for your architecture.
A CVE names a product. Whether it matters depends on where that product sits in your systems: what reaches it, which trust boundary it guards and what it can reach once compromised. Veriom maps your components, their relationships and your trust boundaries from your code, cloud and delivery evidence, so you can see where a component like this sits. The radar itself does not look at your systems.
Components it touches
- Native code: operating systems, browsers and firmware. The flaw sits wherever native code reads untrusted data.
- Network appliances and media or file parsers. The flaw sits wherever native code reads untrusted data.
Trust boundaries in play
- Internet-facing entry points. No account is needed. Any instance reachable from outside your perimeter, through a load balancer, gateway, VPN or exposed admin port, is in scope.
- Isolation between components. The impact crosses out of the vulnerable component into others it should be isolated from.
- Wherever native code reads untrusted data. An attacker who crosses it can crash the process, read memory, or in the worst case run code.
Questions to answer about your own systems
- Where does nodejs node run in your systems, and at which version?
- Which of those instances can be reached from the internet or partner networks?
- What can it reach once compromised: which data stores, secrets and services?
Sources
- CVE records and CVSS scores from the NVD CVE API. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
- Exploitation status from CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
- Exploit likelihood from FIRST’s Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), refreshed daily.
- Explanations are written by Veriom from fixed templates over each record’s data, not by a person reviewing each CVE. Descriptions are quoted from the records as published.