VulnerabilityPublished 12 Feb 2026

CVE-2026-26076: pendulum-project ntpd-rs · Unthrottled Resource Allocation

Affects pendulum-project ntpd-rsSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.9 Medium : upgrade to 1.7.1 when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score

6.9Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 34% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 1.7.1

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Attack Requirements: None
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None
Vulnerable system integrity: None
Vulnerable system availability: Low
Subsequent system confidentiality: None
Subsequent system integrity: None
Subsequent system availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable system is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed below, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed “remotely exploitable” and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: The attacker must take no measurable action to exploit the vulnerability. The attack requires no target-specific circumvention to exploit the vulnerability. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: None: The successful attack does not depend on the deployment and execution conditions of the vulnerable system. The attacker can expect to be able to reach the vulnerability and execute the exploit under all or most instances of the vulnerability.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files of the vulnerable system to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without interaction from any human user, other than the attacker.
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the Vulnerable System are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Subsequent System or all confidentiality impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Subsequent System or all integrity impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Subsequent System or all availability impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v4.0 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 12 Feb 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade pendulum-project ntpd-rs to 1.7.1.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
pendulum-projectntpd-rs	Affected <1.7.1	Fixed in 1.7.1

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2026-26076, organizations should upgrade all ntpd-rs deployments to version 1.7.1 or later, where the vulnerability is fixed. For environments where immediate upgrade is not feasible, implement network-level controls such as rate limiting and filtering of NTS packets to restrict the number of cookie requests from individual sources. Monitoring CPU usage and NTP server performance metrics can help detect anomalous spikes indicative of exploitation attempts. Deploying intrusion detection systems with signatures for malformed NTS packets may provide early warning. Additionally, consider isolating NTP servers behind firewalls or dedicated network segments to limit exposure. Regularly audit and update NTP implementations and configurations to ensure security patches are applied promptly. Finally, educate network administrators about the risks of resource exhaustion attacks on time synchronization services and encourage proactive incident response planning.

Description

ntpd-rs is a full-featured implementation of the Network Time Protocol. Prior to 1.7.1, an attacker can remotely induce moderate increases (2-4 times above normal) in cpu usage. When having NTS enabled on an ntpd-rs server, an attacker can create malformed NTS packets that take significantly more effort for the server to respond to by requesting a large number of cookies. This can lead to degraded server performance even when a server could otherwise handle the load. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.7.1.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2026-26076 is degraded performance of ntpd-rs servers running vulnerable versions with NTS enabled. Increased CPU usage can lead to slower response times, reduced capacity to handle legitimate NTP requests, and potential denial of service conditions if resource exhaustion becomes severe. Since NTP servers are foundational to network time synchronization, disruptions can cascade to affect time-dependent services such as logging, authentication protocols, transaction ordering, and distributed systems coordination. Organizations relying on ntpd-rs for accurate timekeeping—especially those with high traffic or critical infrastructure—may experience service degradation or outages. The vulnerability does not allow direct code execution or data compromise, but the availability and integrity of time services could be indirectly impacted. This can affect sectors including telecommunications, finance, cloud services, and government networks where precise time synchronization is essential.

CWE-770Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #25
The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any intended restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated.
Requirements
Clearly specify the minimum and maximum expectations for capabilities, and dictate which behaviors are acceptable when resource allocation reaches limits.
Architecture and Design
Limit the amount of resources that are accessible to unprivileged users. Set per-user limits for resources. Allow the system administrator to define these limits. Be careful to avoid CWE-410.
Architecture and Design
Design throttling mechanisms into the system architecture. The best protection is to limit the amount of resources that an unauthorized user can cause to be expended.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.1 (opens in a new tab)
V11.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
XML Ping of the Death (opens in a new tab)
Exponential Data Expansion (opens in a new tab)
Serialized Data Parameter Blowup (opens in a new tab)
Serialized Data with Nested Payloads (opens in a new tab)
Oversized Serialized Data Payloads (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 20 Feb 2026, 09:06 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-770

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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