cbcvebase.
CVE-2026-42945
published 2026-05-13

CVE-2026-42945: NGINX Plus and NGINX Open Source have a vulnerability in the ngx_http_rewrite_module module. This vulnerability exists when the rewrite directive is followed…

PriorityP191high8.1CVSS 3.1
AVNACHPRNUINSUCHIHAH
ITWEXPLOITVulnCheck KEVInitial access
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
61.47%
99.1th percentile
NGINX Plus and NGINX Open Source have a vulnerability in the ngx_http_rewrite_module module. This vulnerability exists when the rewrite directive is followed by a rewrite, if, or set directive and an unnamed Perl-Compatible Regular Expression (PCRE) capture (for example, $1, $2) with a replacement string that includes a question mark (?). An unauthenticated attacker along with conditions beyond its control can exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted HTTP requests. This may cause a heap buffer overflow in the NGINX worker process leading to a restart. Additionally, attackers can execute code on systems with Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) disabled or when the attacker can bypass ASLR. Note: Software versions which have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) are not evaluated.

Affected

22 ranges
VendorProductVersion rangeFixed in
f5dos
f5dos4.3.0 – 4.7.0
f5nginx_gateway_fabric1.3.0 – 1.6.2
f5nginx_gateway_fabric2.0.0 – 2.5.1
f5nginx_ingress_controller3.5.0 – 3.7.2
f5nginx_ingress_controller4.0.0 – 4.0.1
f5nginx_ingress_controller5.0.0 – 5.4.1
f5nginx_instance_manager2.16.0 – 2.21.1
f5nginx_open_source>= 0.6.27 < 1.30.11.30.1
f5nginx_open_source0.6.27 – 1.30.0
f5nginx_plus
f5nginx_plus
f5nginx_plus>= R32 < R32 P6R32 P6
f5nginx_plus>= R36 < R36 P4R36 P4
f5nginx_plusr32 – r36
f5waf4.9.0 – 4.16.0
f5waf5.1.0 – 5.8.0
f5waf5.9.0 – 5.12.1
insights-proxyinsights-proxy-container-rhel9
nginx_1.24nginx
nginx_1.26nginx
ubuntunginx

Detection & IOCsextracted from sources · hover to see the quote

otherNginx Heap Overflow (CVE-2026-42945)
  • Detect repeated NGINX worker process crashes (crash loops), which indicate active exploitation attempts using CVE-2026-42945 to degrade availability.
  • VulnCheck honeypot telemetry detected active exploitation attempts — monitor for scanning/probing activity consistent with automated vulnerability discovery against NGINX endpoints.
  • ·Vulnerability is only triggerable when the rewrite directive is followed by a rewrite, if, or set directive AND uses an unnamed PCRE capture ($1, $2) with a replacement string containing a question mark (?). Configurations not matching this pattern are not affected.
  • ·Remote code execution is only achievable on systems where ASLR is disabled; on ASLR-enabled systems (default on most Linux distributions), exploitation is limited to worker-process crash/DoS.
  • ·As a temporary mitigation if patching is not immediately possible, replace unnamed PCRE captures with named captures in all affected rewrite directives.
  • ·Affected NGINX versions span 0.6.27 through 1.30.0; versions 0.6.27–0.9.7 have no fix planned. The vulnerability was introduced in 2008.

CVSS provenance

nvdv3.18.1HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
nvdv4.09.2CRITICALCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/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
vulncheck9.2CRITICAL
vendor_redhat9.2CRITICAL
vendor_ubuntu6.3MEDIUM
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