CVE-2026-26011 Memory corruption in navigation2
An attacker can trigger heap corruption and potential remote code execution or denial of service in ROS 2 Nav2 by sending malicious covariance data.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-26011?
CVE-2026-26011 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in ros-navigation navigation2, published on 12 Feb 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
navigation2 is a ROS 2 Navigation Framework and System. In 1.3.11 and earlier, a critical heap out-of-bounds write vulnerability exists in Nav2 AMCL's particle filter clustering logic. By publishing a single crafted geometry_msgs/PoseWithCovarianceStamped message with extreme covariance values to the /initialpose topic, an unauthenticated attacker on the same ROS 2 DDS domain can trigger a negative index write (set->clusters[-1]) into heap memory preceding the allocated buffer. In Release builds, the sole boundary check (assert) is compiled out, leaving zero runtime protection. This primitive allows controlled corruption of the heap chunk metadata(at least the size of the heap chunk where the set->clusters is in is controllable by the attacker), potentially leading to further exploitation. At minimum, it provides a reliable single-packet denial of service that kills localization and halts all navigation.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-26011?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Opennav Nav2.
How do I fix CVE-2026-26011?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-26011 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2026-26011 being exploited?
It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-26011 exists.
Other vulnerabilities in ros-navigation navigation2
Sources
Also known as GHSA-mgj5-g2p6-gc5x.