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Medium

PocketMine-MP allows malicious client data to waste server resources due to lack of limits for explode()

  • Disclosed: 10.03.2025
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 10:22

Impact

Due to lack of limits by default in the explode() function, malicious clients were able to abuse some packets to waste server CPU and memory.

This is similar to a previous security issue published in https://github.com/pmmp/PocketMine-MP/security/advisories/GHSA-gj94-v4p9-w672, but with a wider impact, including but not limited to:

  • Sign editing
  • LoginPacket JWT parsing
  • Command parsing

However, the estimated impact of these issues is low, due to other limits such as the packet decompression limit.

Patches

The issue was fixed in 5.25.2 via d0d84d4c5195fb0a68ea7725424fda63b85cd831.

A custom PHPStan rule has also been introduced to the project, which will henceforth require that all calls to explode() within the codebase must specify the limit parameter.

Workarounds

No simple way to fix this. Given that sign editing is the easiest way this could be exploited, workarounds could include plugins pre-processing BlockActorDataPacket to check that the incoming text doesn't have more than 4 parts when split by \n.

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Composer package pocketmine/pocketmine-mp < 5.25.2 5.25.2

References

CVSS score 5.3/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-770
Platform
Composer
Package
pocketmine/pocketmine-mp
Disclosed
10.03.2025
Updated
11.10.2026 10:22

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-g274-c6jj-h78p - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: pocketmine/pocketmine-mp

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Composer package), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

All (30) in the archive
Total entries
30
First → latest
11.2020 04.2026
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • High 20
  • Medium 8
  • Low 2

Disclosures per year

Severity:
  1. PocketMine-MP: JSON decoding of unlimited size large arrays/objects in ModalFormResponse Handling
    High CVE-2026-86204 < 5.39.2 5.39.2
  2. PocketMine-MP: LogDoS by large complex unknown property logging in clientData in LoginPacket
    High · 7.5 CVE-2026-86201 < 5.41.1 5.41.1
  3. PocketMine-MP `ResourcePackDataInfoPacket` amplification vulnerability due to lack of resource pack sequence status checking
    High CVE-2025-71417 < 5.32.1 5.32.1
  4. PocketMine-MP allows malicious client data to waste server resources due to lack of limits for explode() this entry
    Medium · 5.3 CVE-2025-71418 < 5.25.2 5.25.2
  5. PocketMine-MP server crash with certain invalid JSON payloads in `LoginPacket` due to dependency vulnerability (3rd time)
    High · 7.5 CVE-2024-58381 < 5.11.1 5.11.1
  6. PocketMine-MP BookEditPacket crash when inventory slot in the packet is invalid
    High · 7.5 CVE-2024-58380 < 5.11.2 5.11.2
  7. PocketMine-MP server crash with certain invalid JSON payloads in `LoginPacket` due to dependency vulnerability (again)
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-54390 >= 5.0.0, < 5.3.1, < 4.23.1 5.3.1, 4.23.1
  8. PocketMine-MP server crash due to incorrect EC curve used for LoginPacket identityPublicKey
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-54355 >= 5.2.0, < 5.3.1 5.3.1
  9. PocketMine-MP vulnerable to server crash using badly formatted sign NBT in BlockActorDataPacket
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-54392 >= 4.20.0, < 4.22.3, >= 5.0.0, < 5.2.1 4.22.3, 5.2.1
  10. PocketMine-MP vulnerable to improperly checked dropped item count leading to server crash
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-7332 < 4.18.1 4.18.1
  11. PocketMine-MP vulnerable to server crash with certain invalid JSON payloads in `LoginPacket` due to vulnerable dependency
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-54393 < 4.20.5, >= 4.21.0, < 4.21.1 4.20.5, 4.21.1
  12. PocketMine-MP has improperly handled dye colour IDs in banner NBT, leading to server crash
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-54396 < 4.8.1 4.8.1
  13. PocketMine-MP invalid skin geometry JSON data leading to server crash
    High · 7.5 CVE-2022-51009 < 4.7.2 4.7.2
  14. Improperly checked IDs on itemstacks received from the client leading to server crash in PocketMine-MP
    High · 7.5 CVE-2022-51010 >= 4.0.0-BETA5, < 4.4.2 4.4.2
  15. Insufficient type validation in pocketmine/pocketmine-mp
    High · 7.5 CVE-2022-51012 < 4.2.9 4.2.9
  16. Improperly checked metadata on tools/armour itemstacks received from the client
    High · 7.5 CVE-2022-51013 < 4.2.4 4.2.4
  17. NaN/INF in serverbound movement packets can crash clients and servers
    High · 7.5 CVE-2021-48007 < 3.18.1 3.18.1
  18. Unhandled exception when decoding form response JSON
    High · 7.5 CVE-2022-51014 >= 4.0.0, < 4.0.7 4.0.7
  19. Unchecked validity of Facing values in PlayerActionPacket
    High · 7.5 CVE-2022-51015 < 4.0.6 4.0.6
  20. Uncapped length of skin data fields submitted by players
    High · 7.5 CVE-2022-51017 < 3.26.5, >= 4.0.0, < 4.0.5 3.26.5, 4.0.5
  21. Exploitable inventory component chaining in PocketMine-MP
    High CVE-2020-37277 < 3.15.4 3.15.4

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