---
id: CVE-2026-72712
title: >-
  Nmap versions up to and including 7.99 contains a denial of service
  vulnerability that allows remote attackers to crash the application by sending
  a crafted packet containing a zero-length TCP option
summary: >-
  Nmap versions up to and including 7.99 contains a denial of service
  vulnerability that allows remote attackers to crash the application by sending
  a crafted packet containing a zero-length TCP option. The malformed packet
  forces the Pack…
severity: medium
cvss: 6.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-835
published: '2026-08-11'
updated: '2026-09-24'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-24T20:30:25.373'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72712'
references:
  - url: 'https://github.com/nmap/nmap'
    label: disclosure@vulncheck.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/nmap/nmap/commit/7ef4ee030a0023fe22616387a000032e1a678b6a
    label: disclosure@vulncheck.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/nmap/nmap/issues/3368'
    label: disclosure@vulncheck.com
  - url: >-
      https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/nmap-denial-of-service-via-zero-length-tcp-option-packet
    label: disclosure@vulncheck.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/nmap/nmap/issues/3368'
    label: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
tags:
  - nvd
epss: 0.00608
epssPercentile: 0.46755
ingestedAt: '2026-09-24T20:51:40.192Z'
---

## Overview

Nmap versions up to and including 7.99 contains a denial of service vulnerability that allows remote attackers to crash the application by sending a crafted packet containing a zero-length TCP option. The malformed packet forces the Packet:parse_options() function in nselib/packet.lua to allocate objects in an infinite loop, causing an out-of-memory condition that results in application crash.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.