Nmap versions up to and including 7.99 contains a denial of service vulnerability that allows remote attackers to crash the application by sending a crafted packet containing a zero-length TCP option. The malformed packet forces the Packet:parse_options() function in nselib/packet.lua to allocate objects in an infinite loop, causing an out-of-memory condition that results in application crash.

Attack Vector Network

Attack Complexity Low

Privileges Required None

Attack Requirements None

User Interaction Active

Vulnerable System Confidentiality Impact None

Vulnerable System Integrity Impact None

Vulnerable System Availability Impact High

Subsequent System Confidentiality Impact None

Subsequent System Integrity Impact None

Subsequent System Availability Impact None

Attack Vector Network

Attack Complexity Low

Privileges Required None

Scope Unchanged

Confidentiality Impact None

Integrity Impact None

Availability Impact High

User Interaction Required

No CVSS v3.0

No CVSS v2

This CVE is not in the KEV list.

No EPSS score available.

Key SSVC decision points have not yet been added.

Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).

Vendor Product Default status Versions
Nmap Project Nmap affected
Version Status Constraints
0 affected ≤ 7.99

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Project Subscriptions

No data.

Advisories

No advisories yet.

Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.

Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

References
Link Providers
https://github.com/nmap/nmap cve-icon cve-icon
https://github.com/nmap/nmap/commit/7ef4ee030a0023fe22616387a000032e1a678b6a cve-icon cve-icon
https://github.com/nmap/nmap/issues/3368 cve-icon cve-icon
https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/nmap-denial-of-service-via-zero-length-tcp-option-packet cve-icon cve-icon
History

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description Nmap versions up to and including 7.99 contains a denial of service vulnerability that allows remote attackers to crash the application by sending a crafted packet containing a zero-length TCP option. The malformed packet forces the Packet:parse_options() function in nselib/packet.lua to allocate objects in an infinite loop, causing an out-of-memory condition that results in application crash.
Title Nmap 7.99 Denial of Service via Zero-Length TCP Option Packet
Weaknesses CWE-835
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 6.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

cvssV4_0

{'score': 6.9, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N'}

Projects

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: VulnCheck

Published:

Updated: 2026-08-11T17:35:06.192Z

Reserved: 2026-08-10T13:02:52.001Z

Link: CVE-2026-72712

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-08-11T18:18:23.550

Modified: 2026-08-11T18:18:23.550

Link: CVE-2026-72712

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses