CVE-2026-90484: CWE-476 NULL Pointer Dereference in Apache Software Foundation Apache bRPC
Description
CVE-2026-90484 is a null pointer dereference vulnerability in the MySQL client response parser of Apache bRPC. The issue occurs when the server sends a zero-payload-length response packet, which the client incorrectly processes, leading to a crash. This can cause denial of service for clients connecting to malicious or compromised MySQL servers. The vulnerability is fixed in Apache bRPC version 1.18.0.
Affected software
Apache Software Foundation
Apache bRPC
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Weaknesses
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
The vulnerability arises in the brpc::policy::MysqlReply::ConsumePartialIOBuf function, where a zero-length response packet from the server causes buf.fetch(header, 5) to return nullptr. The code then dereferences p[4] without checking for null, leading to a crash. This flaw allows a malicious or compromised MySQL server or a man-in-the-middle to crash the client by sending a zero-length response packet. The fix involves rejecting zero-length response packets before reading the type byte, implemented in Apache bRPC 1.18.0 and available as a patch in the referenced pull request.
Potential Impact
A malicious or compromised MySQL server or a man-in-the-middle can cause the Apache bRPC MySQL client to crash by sending a zero-length response packet. This results in a denial of service condition for the client process.
Mitigation Recommendations
Upgrade to Apache bRPC version 1.18.0 or apply the patch available at https://github.com/apache/brpc/pull/3536. The fix rejects zero-length response packets, preventing the null pointer dereference and client crash.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- apache
- Date Reserved
- 2026-09-12T04:06:06.138Z
- State
- PUBLISHED
Threat ID: 6ad8b1522cdf04f656ecd9ca
Added to database: 10/21/2026, 12:34:26 UTC
Last enriched: 10/21/2026, 12:48:51 UTC
Last updated: 10/21/2026, 13:40:20 UTC
Views: 5
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