Skip to main content

CVE-2026-97371ntop ntopng stack-based buffer overflow

High priorityMedium5.3EPSS 0.48%, higher than 42% of scored CVEs

CVE-2026-97371 is a stack-based buffer overflow in ntop ntopng, rated medium (5.3 on CVSS 3.1).

Why this priority: A public proof of concept exists and exploitation can be automated.

Published · Updated · NVD status: Deferred

What it is

A buffer on the stack overflows, which can overwrite return addresses and hand an attacker control of execution.

How it is reached

An attacker can exploit it over the network, without an account, and nobody has to click anything.

What an attacker gains

The direct impact is limited: partial access to data or a partial outage. In practice, this kind of flaw lets an attacker crash the process, read memory, or in the worst case run code.

Is it being exploited?

CISA's SSVC assessment notes a public proof of concept. It can be exploited automatically, at scale. EPSS estimates a 0.48% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 42% of scored CVEs.

What to do

  1. Upgrade ntop ntopng to 6.7.260721 or later.
  2. Until it is patched, keep it off the internet or behind a VPN, allowlist or authenticating proxy.

Description from NVD

ntopng is a web-based network traffic monitoring application. Prior to 6.7.260721, ndpi_get_custom_category_match writes a four-byte nDPI protocol-category value through a pointer to the two-byte id variable in IpAddress::reloadBlacklist in src/IpAddress.cpp during packet dissection and host initialization. A remote unauthenticated attacker on a monitored network segment can send packets that match custom-category rules, causing stack corruption and denial of service without user interaction. This issue is fixed in version 6.7.260721.

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.
  • 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 ntop ntopng 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.