Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This CVE affects the Node.js mqtt-packet module. A maliciously crafted MQTT packet can crash an application using vulnerable versions, making denial of service possible with little bandwidth. The main business risk is service interruption, not data theft based on the supplied sources.
Executive priority
Treat as a service-availability issue. Prioritize systems that expose MQTT handling to customers, devices, or untrusted networks, because the reported attack requires little bandwidth and can crash applications.
Technical view
CVE-2016-10523 is a CWE-400 resource-consumption denial-of-service issue in mqtt-packet before 3.4.6 and 4.0.x before 4.0.5. The vulnerability is triggered by specially crafted MQTT packets that crash the consuming application. No CVSS vector is supplied in the bundle.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely in Node.js applications that depend directly or transitively on mqtt-packet versions <3.4.6 or 4.0.x before 4.0.5, especially where MQTT packets from untrusted clients are parsed.
Exploitation context
The supplied sources describe crafted MQTT packets causing application crashes with very little bandwidth. The bundle does not cite active exploitation, and KEV status is false, so active exploitation should not be claimed.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to public CVE metadata, Node Security advisory reference, GitHub issue, and mqtt-packet pull request. The bundle identifies affected version ranges and crash impact, but does not provide CVSS, exploit-in-the-wild evidence, or detailed operational mitigations.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade mqtt-packet to 3.4.6, 4.0.5, or a later supported release.
- Check package lockfiles for vulnerable direct or transitive mqtt-packet versions.
- Rebuild and redeploy applications after dependency updates.
- Review the linked advisory and pull request for vendor-specific guidance.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Node.js services that process MQTT traffic.
- Inspect npm manifests and lockfiles for mqtt-packet versions in affected ranges.
- Confirm deployed builds use patched mqtt-packet versions.
- Review uptime or crash logs for unexplained MQTT parser-related application exits.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-400: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2016-10523 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://github.com/mcollina/mosca/issues/393CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://nodesecurity.io/advisories/75CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/mqttjs/mqtt-packet/pull/8CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.