CVE-2026-45542
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedESF-IDF is the Espressif Internet of Things (IOT) Development Framework. In versions 5.2.6, 5.3.5, 5.4.4, 5.5.4, and 6.0, a heap buffer overflow exists in the Security Scheme 2 (SRP6a) session-setup path of the protocomm component. The first-phase handler (handle_session_command0() in components/protocomm/src/security/security2.c) trusts the length of a client-supplied protobuf field for the SRP6a username and copies it into a buffer whose size is derived from a narrower destination type. The resulting truncation-versus-copy asymmetry corrupts the heap when an oversized value is supplied. This issue has been patched in versions 5.2.7, 5.3.6, 5.4.5, 5.5.5, and 6.0.1.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysisData overflows a buffer allocated on the heap, corrupting neighbouring heap structures and allocator metadata that a patient attacker can groom into control of execution. It is subtler than a stack overflow but just as dangerous. The fix is validating lengths before every write and using safe allocators and bounded operations.
General guidance for the heap-based buffer overflow class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 5.2.6= 5.3.5= 5.4.4= 5.5.4= 6.0CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scopedUpgrade to ESP-IDF 5.2.7, 5.3.6, 5.4.5, 5.5.5, or 6.0.1 (whichever corresponds to your current major.minor branch)
- Identify the currently installed ESP-IDF version using 'idf.py --version' or checking the version file
- Upgrade to a patched version: For ESP-IDF 5.2.x, upgrade to 5.2.7 or later; For ESP-IDF 5.3.x, upgrade to 5.3.6 or later; For ESP-IDF 5.4.x, upgrade to 5.4.5 or later; For ESP-IDF 5.5.x, upgrade to 5.5.5 or later; For ESP-IDF 6.0.x, upgrade to 6.0.1 or later
- To upgrade ESP-IDF, run 'git fetch origin' followed by 'git checkout <target_tag>' (e.g., 'git checkout v5.2.7') in the ESP-IDF installation directory
- After upgrading, run 'git submodule update --init --recursive' to update submodules
- Verify the upgrade by running 'idf.py --version' to confirm the new version is installed
- Rebuild any projects with 'idf.py fullclean' followed by 'idf.py build' to ensure the fixed components are used
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-45542 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-45542 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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