High

RabbitMQ Java client has frame-level OOM: Math.min(maxInboundMessageBodySize, 0) defeats frame size enforcement

  • Disclosed: 17.09.2026
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 13:20

Vulnerability

In AMQConnection.java (line 435-436), after Connection.Tune negotiation, the frame-max limit is set via:

java
_frameHandler.setFrameMax(
    Math.min(this.maxInboundMessageBodySize, frameMax));

When frameMax = 0 (meaning "unlimited" per AMQP spec), Math.min(67108864, 0) = 0. This value is then passed to Utils.framePayloadLimit(0) which returns Integer.MAX_VALUE (line 77-79 of Utils.java):

java
static int framePayloadLimit(int frameMax) {
    if (frameMax <= 0) {
      return Integer.MAX_VALUE;
    }
    // ...
}

This completely defeats the maxInboundMessageBodySize protection (default 64MB) at the frame level.

Attack Scenario

A malicious AMQP server (or MITM) sends Connection.Tune with frameMax=0:

  1. Client defaults: requestedFrameMax = 0 (ConnectionFactory.DEFAULT_FRAME_MAX, line 82)
  2. negotiatedMaxValue(0, 0) = Math.max(0, 0) = 0 (line 673-676)
  3. Math.min(maxInboundMessageBodySize, 0) = 0 — 64MB cap defeated
  4. framePayloadLimit(0) = Integer.MAX_VALUE — no frame size enforcement
  5. Attacker sends a single frame with frameSize = 0x1FFFFFFF (~500MB)
  6. Frame.readFrom() (line 135) executes new byte[frameSize] — OOM crash

The frame does not need to be a body frame — method frames, header frames, or heartbeat frames with a crafted size field all trigger the allocation before any content-level check fires.

Root Cause

The AMQP spec uses frameMax=0 to mean "unlimited", but Math.min treats it as the integer value zero. The intent of line 435-436 was to take the smaller of the two limits, but when one limit uses 0-means-unlimited semantics, Math.min always selects the zero, disabling the other limit.

Impact

  • Default configuration is vulnerable: Both requestedFrameMax (client) and legitimate servers' frameMax in Tune may be 0
  • Single-frame OOM: One malicious frame triggers up to ~2GB allocation (Integer.MAX_VALUE bytes)
  • Bypasses existing protection: maxInboundMessageBodySize (introduced to cap allocations at 64MB) is entirely defeated at the frame level
  • Different from ValueReader OOM: This is a frame-layer allocation in Frame.readFrom(), not a value-layer allocation in ValueReader.readBytes()

Affected Code

  • AMQConnection.java:435-436 — Math.min with 0-means-unlimited
  • Utils.java:77-79 — framePayloadLimit(0) returns Integer.MAX_VALUE
  • Frame.java:135 — new byte[frameSize] allocation site
  • ConnectionFactory.java:82 — DEFAULT_FRAME_MAX = 0

Suggested Fix

java
int effectiveFrameMax = (frameMax == 0)
    ? this.maxInboundMessageBodySize
    : Math.min(this.maxInboundMessageBodySize, frameMax);
_frameHandler.setFrameMax(effectiveFrameMax);

This treats frameMax=0 as "use maxInboundMessageBodySize as the cap" instead of "zero".

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Java / Kotlin (Maven) com.rabbitmq:amqp-client < 5.34.0 5.34.0

References

CVSS score -
CVSS vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-770
Platform
Java / Kotlin (Maven)
Package
com.rabbitmq:amqp-client
Disclosed
17.09.2026
Updated
11.10.2026 13:20

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-jh4v-gfqj-7rhx - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: com.rabbitmq:amqp-client

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

All (12) in the archive
Total entries
12
First → latest
10.2018 10.2026
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • High 4
  • Medium 7
  • Low 1

Disclosures per year

  1. 2018: 1
  2. 2019: 0
  3. 2020: 0
  4. 2021: 0
  5. 2022: 0
  6. 2023: 1
  7. 2024: 0
  8. 2025: 0
  9. 2026: 10
Severity:
  1. RabbitMQ Java client has frame-level OOM: Math.min(maxInboundMessageBodySize, 0) defeats frame size enforcement this entry
    High CVE-2026-75516 < 5.34.0 5.34.0

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