CVE Intelligence
Medium Memory corruption exploit reference

CVE-2026-22185 — OpenLDAP LMDB mdb_load Heap Buffer Underflow in readline()

OpenLDAP Lightning Memory-Mapped Database (LMDB) versions up to and including 0.9.14, prior to commit 8e1fda8, contain a heap buffer underflow in the readline() function of mdb_load. When processing malformed input containing an embedded NUL byte, an unsigned offset calculation can underflow and cause an out-of-bounds read of one byte before the allocated heap buffer. This can cause mdb_load to crash, leading to a limited denial-of-service condition.

Published Jan 7, 2026 · Updated Oct 13, 2026 · Sources: NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP · CNA: VulnCheck

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

No exploitation signal in the sources consulted so far.
How the score was calculated
  • EPSS 0.2% (30-day exploitation probability)+1
  • Technical severity (medium)+3
  • CISA SSVC: exploitation "poc"+5

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation
Not confirmed
Not in CISA KEV — an absence of record, not proof it is unexploited.
EPSS FIRST
0.15%
ahead of 4% of scored CVEs · Oct 15, 2026
Affects
Openldap
OpenLDAP
CVSS base
4.6
Medium · 2 source(s)

CISA SSVC assessment CISA

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

Exploitation
Proof of concept
none · proof-of-concept · active
Automatable
No
can an attacker script the kill-chain steps
Technical impact
Partial
partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

No fix documented by the sources we poll. That does not mean none exists: check the vendor advisory.

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

  1. Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Openldap OpenLDAP).
  2. No fix documented in the sources: reduce exposure and monitor the vendor advisory.
  3. Exploitation requires user interaction: tighten email/web filtering and warn affected users.
  4. Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (memory corruption), errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

VendorProductVersionsStatusSource
Openldap OpenLDAP ≥ 0.9.14 and < 0.9.34 Vulnerable CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Attack requirements
None
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Active
Scope
X
Confidentiality (vulnerable system)
None
Integrity (vulnerable system)
None
Availability (vulnerable system)
Low
Confidentiality (subsequent)
None
Integrity (subsequent)
None
Availability (subsequent)
None

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

ScoreVersionSeverityExpl.ImpactScored by
4.6 CVSS 4.0 Medium — — disclosure@vulncheck.com via NIST National Vulnerability Database
4.6 CVSS 4.0 Medium — — VulnCheck via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X (score shown at the top: disclosure@vulncheck.com)

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-125 · Out-of-bounds Read

Other CVEs with this weakness →

EPSS over time FIRST

Oct 13, 2026 → Oct 15, 2026 · 3 reading(s) · max 0.15%

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

  • Local/physical vector: focus on endpoint telemetry (EDR) from affected hosts.
  • Correlate service crashes/restarts with inbound traffic; repeated crashes may indicate attempts.
endpoint telemetry (EDR)crash dumps

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

  • 2026
  • Affected products added · openldap foundation/openldap
    Oct 13, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • SSVC assessment updated
    Oct 13, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • Record published
    Oct 13, 2026
  • CVSS changed · 4.6
    Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Source status changed · → Deferred
    Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Record created in this database
    Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • CVE published
    Jan 7, 2026 · VulnCheck

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

  • 1× Official description updated · Oct 13, 2026 – Oct 13, 2026

References

5 on the record

Elsewhere on this site

Openldap
every CVE for this vendor
Memory corruption
same class
CWE-125
other pages naming this weakness

Related CVEs (same products)

  • CVE-2023-2953 A vulnerability was found in openldap. This security flaw causes a null pointer dereference in... May 30, 2023
  • CVE-2022-29155 In OpenLDAP 2.x before 2.5.12 and 2.6.x before 2.6.2, a SQL injection vulnerability exists in the... May 4, 2022
  • CVE-2020-25710 A flaw was found in OpenLDAP in versions before 2.4.56. This flaw allows an attacker who sends a... May 28, 2021
  • CVE-2020-25709 A flaw was found in OpenLDAP. This flaw allows an attacker who can send a malicious packet to be... May 18, 2021
  • CVE-2021-27212 In OpenLDAP through 2.4.57 and 2.5.x through 2.5.1alpha, an assertion failure in slapd can occur... Feb 14, 2021
  • CVE-2020-36228 An integer underflow was discovered in OpenLDAP before 2.4.57 leading to a slapd crash in the... Jan 26, 2021

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

  • No fixed version, patch or mitigation documented.
  • No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
  • No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
  • No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2026-22185 is "OpenLDAP LMDB mdb_load Heap Buffer Underflow in readline()", rated Medium. It affects OpenLDAP (Openldap); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 4.6 describes technical severity. EPSS 0.15% estimates the probability of exploitation in 30 days; neither replaces your asset context. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

Comments

Moderated technical discussion. Read the community guidelines.

No comments yet.

Sign in or create an account to comment and suggest corrections.