# 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.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.3 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 12 Feb 2026
- **Updated:** 13 Feb 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-mgj5-g2p6-gc5x

## 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.

Weakness: CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write), CWE-122 (Heap-based Buffer Overflow)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-26011?

It affects 1 product.


Products: 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.

## 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

- [CVE-2024-25198](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-25198/): Use after free in n/a (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2024-25199](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-25199/): Use after free in n/a (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2024-25197](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-25197/): Null dereference in n/a (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2024-25196](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-25196/): Memory corruption in n/a (low 3.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-26011 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: 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.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-26011 exists.

Affected product: ros-navigation navigation2. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

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-2026-26011/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-26011/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-26011
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-26011
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-26011

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-26011/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.