Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-27654

Memory Safety in F5 Nginx Plus r32 … r36

Published
24 March 2026
Modified
15 July 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 8.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/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
EPSS Score 0.22 97th percentile
Risk Priority 58 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-27654 is a high-severity Heap-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-122) vulnerability in F5 Nginx Plus. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 3% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2026-27654 is a buffer overflow vulnerability (CWE-122) in the ngx_http_dav_module of NGINX Open Source and NGINX Plus, with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.2 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H). The issue arises when the NGINX configuration file enables the DAV module's MOVE or COPY methods alongside prefix location configurations (non-regular expression) and alias directives. Software versions that have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) were not evaluated for this vulnerability.

An unauthenticated network attacker can exploit this vulnerability with low attack complexity to trigger a buffer overflow in the NGINX worker process. Successful exploitation may cause termination of the worker process, resulting in a denial of service, or allow modification of source or destination file names outside the document root. The integrity impact remains low because the NGINX worker process typically runs with restricted privileges and lacks access to the full system.

The F5 advisory at https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K000160382 details mitigation guidance for this vulnerability.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

NGINX Open Source and NGINX Plus have a vulnerability in the ngx_http_dav_module module that might allow an attacker to trigger a buffer overflow to the NGINX worker process; this vulnerability may result in termination of the NGINX worker process or…

more

modification of source or destination file names outside the document root. This issue affects NGINX Open Source and NGINX Plus when the configuration file uses DAV module MOVE or COPY methods, prefix location (nonregular expression location configuration), and alias directives. The integrity impact is constrained because the NGINX worker process user has low privileges and does not have access to the entire system. Note: Software versions which have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) are not evaluated.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-40067Same vendor: F5
CVE-2025-53474Same vendor: F5
CVE-2021-22992Same vendor: F5
CVE-2023-22422Same vendor: F5
CVE-2025-23412Same vendor: F5
CVE-2025-36525Same vendor: F5
CVE-2025-36557Same vendor: F5
CVE-2024-56805Shared CWE-120, CWE-122
CVE-2025-48724Shared CWE-120, CWE-122
CVE-2025-52868Shared CWE-120, CWE-122

Affected Assets

f5
nginx plus
r32, r33, r34, r35, r36
f5
nginx open source
0.5.13 — 0.9.7 · 1.0.0 — 1.28.3 · 1.29.0 — 1.29.7

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.2.1
  • V1.4.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation (including fuzzing and memory-error detectors) can discover heap overflows after they have been coded.

Input validation enforces bounds checking on data written to heap buffers, directly stopping the overflow condition from being introduced.

Security engineering principles require use of memory-safe constructs and bounds-checked allocation routines that avoid introducing heap overflows.

Memory-protection mechanisms limit the ability of a heap overflow to execute attacker-controlled code or corrupt adjacent structures.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 full match
prevents

Secure-development practices directly require bounds checking and safe memory handling that prevent heap overflows.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover heap-overflow flaws but does not prevent their introduction in code.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Timely patching removes known heap-overflow instances after they exist.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

prevents

Secure coding directly requires bounds-checked memory operations, addressing the root cause of CWE-120.

finds

Security testing in development and acceptance can detect heap overflows before release.

prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates practices that reduce the likelihood of introducing heap overflows.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify bounds-checking and safe memory APIs that mitigate heap overflows.

prevents

Secure architecture and engineering principles include memory-safety and input-validation controls that address heap overflows.

none

Change management ensures controlled deployment of fixes for discovered heap-overflow vulnerabilities.

References