# CVE-2026-48045: Zeroconf: Unbounded TC-deferred queue allows LAN-local memory exhaustion via spoofed-source flood

> Unauthenticated local attackers can cause memory exhaustion and CPU burn in the Zeroconf library by flooding spoofed truncated queries.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:A/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:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 17 Jul 2026
- **Updated:** 17 Jul 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-48045, GHSA-9663-mqmp-p9mm, PYSEC-2026-3435, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-48045

## What is CVE-2026-48045?

CVE-2026-48045 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in python-zeroconf, published on 17 Jul 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Zeroconf is a pure Python implementation of multicast DNS service discovery. Prior to 0.149.12, AsyncListener.handle_query_or_defer retained every truncated TC-bit incoming query, each up to _MAX_MSG_ABSOLUTE = 8966 bytes, in self._deferred[addr] and armed a per-address timer in self._timers[addr] without capping the per-address list or distinct addr keys, allowing unauthenticated hosts on the local link over UDP/5353 (224.0.0.251 / ff02::fb) to spoof sources, grow _deferred and _timers, and cause memory exhaustion and quadratic CPU burn. This issue is fixed in version 0.149.12.

Weakness: CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-48045?

3 open source packages ship an affected version, including zeroconf. It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `zeroconf` | PyPI | All versions | 0.149.12 |
| `zeroconf` | PyPI | All versions | 0.149.12 |
| `zeroconf` | PyPI | All versions | 0.149.12 |

Products: Paulsm Zeroconf.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-48045?

Upgrade zeroconf to 0.149.12 or later.

## Is CVE-2026-48045 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-48045 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in python-zeroconf

- [CVE-2026-47180](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-47180/): Zeroconf: Unbounded recursion in DNS compression-pointer decoder allows LAN-local denial of service (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2026-47183](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-47183/): zeroconf: Unbounded exception-dedup state retains packet buffers via traceback frame locals, enabling LAN-local memory exhaustion (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2026-47184](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-47184/): Zeroconf: Unbounded DNS record cache allows LAN-local memory exhaustion via multicast flood (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2026-48487](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-48487/): Zeroconf: Unvalidated rdlength in record payload readers allows LAN-local cache corruption via crafted mDNS packet (medium 5.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-48045 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-48045 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in python-zeroconf, published on 17 Jul 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-48045 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- zeroconf (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 0.149.12
- zeroconf (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 0.149.12
- zeroconf (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 0.149.12

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-2026-48045/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-48045/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-48045
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-48045
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-48045

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-48045/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.