CVE-2025-68272 is a high-severity uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in signalk-server (npm), affecting versions < 2.19.0. It is fixed in 2.19.0.
Summary A Denial of Service (DoS) vulnerability allows an unauthenticated attacker to crash the SignalK Server by flooding the access request endpoint (/signalk/v1/access/requests). This causes a "JavaScript heap out of memory" error due to unbounded in-memory storage of request objects. Details The vulnerability is caused by a lack of rate limiting and improper memory management for incoming access requests. Vulnerable Code Analysis: In-Memory Storage: In src/requestResponse.js, requests are stored in a simple JavaScript object: javascript const requests = {} Unbounded Growth: The createRequest function adds new requests to this object without checking the current size or count of existing requests. Infrequent Pruning: The pruneRequests function, which removes old requests, runs only once every 15 minutes (pruneIntervalRate). No Rate Limiting: The endpoint /signalk/v1/access/requests accepts POST requests from any client without any rate limiting or authentication (by design, as it's for initial access requests). Exploit Scenario: An attacker sends a large number of POST requests (e.g., 20,000+) or requests with large payloads to /signalk/v1/access/requests. The server stores every request in the requests object in the Node.js heap. The heap memory usage spikes rapidly. The Node.js process hits its memory limit (default ~1.5GB) and crashes with FATAL ERROR: Ineffective mark-compacts near heap limit Allocation failed - JavaScript heap out of memory. PoC The following Python script reproduces the crash by flooding the server with requests containing 100KB payloads. Expected Result: Monitor the server process. Memory usage will increase rapidly, and the server will eventually terminate with an Out of Memory (OOM) error. Impact Verified Denial of Service: During our verification using the provided PoC, we observed the following: Rapid Memory Exhaustion: The Node.js process memory usage increased by approximately 30MB within seconds of starting the attack. Service Instability: Continued execution of the PoC quickly leads to a FATAL ERROR: Ineffective mark-compacts near heap limit Allocation failed - JavaScript heap out of memory crash. Service Unavailability: The server becomes completely unresponsive and terminates, requiring a manual restart to recover. This allows an unauthenticated attacker to easily take the vessel's navigation data server offline. Remediation Implement Rate Limiting Use a middleware like express-rate-limit to restrict the number of requests from a single IP address to /signalk/v1/access/requests. Limit Request Storage Modify src/requestResponse.js to enforce a maximum number of stored requests (e.g., 100). If the limit is reached, reject new requests or evict the oldest ones immediately. Validate Payload Size Enforce strict limits on the size of the description and other fields in the access request payload.
Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service. Typical impact: denial of service.
CVE-2025-68272 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment.
A fixed version is available (2.19.0). Upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
npm
signalk-server (< 2.19.0)signalk-server → 2.19.0 (npm)Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter instead of chasing every advisory.
Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether CVE-2025-68272 is reachable in your applications. Explore open-source security for your team.
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Upgrade signalk-server to 2.19.0 or later to resolve this vulnerability.
Kodem Kai can prioritize this vulnerability in your dependency tree and generate a fix recommendation.
CVE-2025-68272 is a high-severity uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in signalk-server (npm), affecting versions < 2.19.0. It is fixed in 2.19.0. Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service.
CVE-2025-68272 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
signalk-server (npm) versions < 2.19.0 is affected.
Yes. CVE-2025-68272 is fixed in 2.19.0. Upgrade to this version or later.
Whether CVE-2025-68272 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
Upgrade signalk-server to 2.19.0 or later.