# CVE-2017-12174: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption in Artemis and HornetQ

> Attackers can cause denial of service via heap exhaustion by sending unexpected multicast messages to Artemis or HornetQ configured with UDP or JGroups discovery.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 7 Mar 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-gc96-h5pr-839j

## What is CVE-2017-12174?

CVE-2017-12174 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Redhat Jboss Enterprise Application Platform, published on 7 Mar 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

It was found that when Artemis and HornetQ before 2.4.0 are configured with UDP discovery and JGroups discovery a huge byte array is created when receiving an unexpected multicast message. This may result in a heap memory exhaustion, full GC, or OutOfMemoryError.

Weakness: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-12174?

4 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.apache.activemq:artemis-native and org.hornetq:hornetq-server. It affects 3 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `org.apache.activemq:artemis-native` | Maven | All versions | 2.4.0 |
| `org.apache.activemq:artemis-native` | Maven | All versions | 2.4.0 |
| `org.hornetq:hornetq-server` | Maven | All versions | 2.4.0.Final |
| `org.hornetq:hornetq-server` | Maven | All versions | 2.4.0.Final |

Products: Apache Artemis, Redhat Hornetq, Redhat Jboss Enterprise Application Platform.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-12174?

Upgrade org.apache.activemq:artemis-native to 2.4.0 or later.

## Is CVE-2017-12174 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-12174 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Redhat Jboss Enterprise Application Platform

- [CVE-2026-57967](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-57967/): Apache Artemis, Apache ActiveMQ Artemis: Missing authentication on CORE protocol session reattachment (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-27446](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-27446/): Apache Artemis, Apache ActiveMQ Artemis: Auth bypass for Core downstream federation (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2026-49364](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-49364/): Information disclosure in Apache ActiveMQ Artemis (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2026-67593](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-67593/): Missing authorization in Apache ActiveMQ Artemis (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2023-50780](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-50780/): Apache ActiveMQ Artemis: Authenticated users could perform RCE via Jolokia MBeans (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-12174 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-12174 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Redhat Jboss Enterprise Application Platform, published on 7 Mar 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-12174 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- org.apache.activemq:artemis-native (Maven): affected all versions; fixed in 2.4.0
- org.apache.activemq:artemis-native (Maven): affected all versions; fixed in 2.4.0
- org.hornetq:hornetq-server (Maven): affected all versions; fixed in 2.4.0.Final
- org.hornetq:hornetq-server (Maven): affected all versions; fixed in 2.4.0.Final

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12174/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12174/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-12174
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-12174
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-12174

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12174/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.