CVE-2026-53937
MCP Kotlin SDK's unbounded line buffer in StdioServerTransport/StdioClientTransport leads to memory exhaustion (DoS)
MCP Kotlin SDK is the Kotlin Multiplatform software development kit for the Model Context Protocol. In versions 0.7.0 through 0.12.0, ReadBuffer.append in kotlin-sdk-core/src/commonMain/kotlin/io/modelcontextprotocol/kotlin/sdk/shared/ReadBuffer.kt writes every chunk of bytes received from the stdio transport into a kotlinx.io.Buffer with no size cap. Frames are extracted from that buffer only when a \n (0x0a) byte is observed. A peer that streams bytes without ever sending a newline causes the internal buffer to grow indefinitely until the JVM (or the surrounding host process) is OOM-killed. The leak is amplified by StdioServerTransport and StdioClientTransport, which both queue raw chunks through a kotlinx.coroutines.channels.Channel<ByteArray>(Channel.UNLIMITED) and then call readBuffer.append(chunk) without backpressure or size guard. This is a remote-pre-auth denial of service whenever an SDK stdio server's stdin is fed by an untrusted or attacker-controlled producer (for example: a host program that exec's the MCP server as a subprocess and pipes through bytes received from a network peer, or a sidecar wrapper that proxies bytes from an HTTP endpoint to the stdio transport). Version 0.13.0 fixes the issue.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
6.2
MCP Kotlin SDK's unbounded line buffer in StdioServerTransport/StdioClientTransport leads to memory exhaustion (DoS)
MCP Kotlin SDK is the Kotlin Multiplatform software development kit for the Model Context Protocol. In versions 0.7.0 through 0.12.0, ReadBuffer.append in kotlin-sdk-core/src/commonMain/kotlin/io/modelcontextprotocol/kotlin/sdk/shared/ReadBuffer.kt writes every chunk of bytes received from the stdio transport into a kotlinx.io.Buffer with no size cap. Frames are extracted from that buffer only when a \n (0x0a) byte is observed. A peer that streams bytes without ever sending a newline causes the internal buffer to grow indefinitely until the JVM (or the surrounding host process) is OOM-killed. The leak is amplified by StdioServerTransport and StdioClientTransport, which both queue raw chunks through a kotlinx.coroutines.channels.Channel<ByteArray>(Channel.UNLIMITED) and then call readBuffer.append(chunk) without backpressure or size guard. This is a remote-pre-auth denial of service whenever an SDK stdio server's stdin is fed by an untrusted or attacker-controlled producer (for example: a host program that exec's the MCP server as a subprocess and pipes through bytes received from a network peer, or a sidecar wrapper that proxies bytes from an HTTP endpoint to the stdio transport). Version 0.13.0 fixes the issue.
- Record
CVE-2026-53937- CVSS 3.1
- 6.2 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-400, CWE-770
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2026-74297
6.2
MCP Kotlin SDK is the Kotlin Multiplatform software development kit for the Model Context Protocol. In versions 0.7.0 through 0.12.0, ReadBuffer.append in kotlin-sdk-core/src/commonMain/kotlin/io/modelcontextprotocol/kotlin/sdk/shared/ReadBuffer.kt writes every chunk of bytes received from the stdio transport into a kotlinx.io.Buffer with no size cap. Frames are extracted from that buffer only when a \n (0x0a) byte is observed. A peer that streams bytes without ever sending a newline causes the internal buffer to grow indefinitely until the JVM (or the surrounding host process) is OOM-killed. The leak is amplified by StdioServerTransport and StdioClientTransport, which both queue raw chunks through a kotlinx.coroutines.channels.Channel<ByteArray>(Channel.UNLIMITED) and then call readBuffer.append(chunk) without backpressure or size guard. This is a remote-pre-auth denial of service whenever an SDK stdio server's stdin is fed by an untrusted or attacker-controlled producer (for example: a host program that exec's the MCP server as a subprocess and pipes through bytes received from a network peer, or a sidecar wrapper that proxies bytes from an HTTP endpoint to the stdio transport). Version 0.13.0 fixes the issue.
- Record
EUVD-2026-74297- CVSS 3.1
- 6.2 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
6.2
MCP Kotlin SDK is the Kotlin Multiplatform software development kit for the Model Context Protocol. In versions 0.7.0 through 0.12.0, ReadBuffer.append in kotlin-sdk-core/src/commonMain/kotlin/io/modelcontextprotocol/kotlin/sdk/shared/ReadBuffer.kt writes every chunk of bytes received from the stdio transport into a kotlinx.io.Buffer with no size cap. Frames are extracted from that buffer only when a \n (0x0a) byte is observed. A peer that streams bytes without ever sending a newline causes the internal buffer to grow indefinitely until the JVM (or the surrounding host process) is OOM-killed. The leak is amplified by StdioServerTransport and StdioClientTransport, which both queue raw chunks through a kotlinx.coroutines.channels.Channel<ByteArray>(Channel.UNLIMITED) and then call readBuffer.append(chunk) without backpressure or size guard. This is a remote-pre-auth denial of service whenever an SDK stdio server's stdin is fed by an untrusted or attacker-controlled producer (for example: a host program that exec's the MCP server as a subprocess and pipes through bytes received from a network peer, or a sidecar wrapper that proxies bytes from an HTTP endpoint to the stdio transport). Version 0.13.0 fixes the issue.
- Record
CVE-2026-53937- CVSS 3.1
- 6.2 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-400, CWE-770
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
6.2
MCP Kotlin SDK's unbounded line buffer in StdioServerTransport/StdioClientTransport leads to memory exhaustion (DoS)
MCP Kotlin SDK is the Kotlin Multiplatform software development kit for the Model Context Protocol. In versions 0.7.0 through 0.12.0, ReadBuffer.append in kotlin-sdk-core/src/commonMain/kotlin/io/modelcontextprotocol/kotlin/sdk/shared/ReadBuffer.kt writes every chunk of bytes received from the stdio transport into a kotlinx.io.Buffer with no size cap. Frames are extracted from that buffer only when a \n (0x0a) byte is observed. A peer that streams bytes without ever sending a newline causes the internal buffer to grow indefinitely until the JVM (or the surrounding host process) is OOM-killed. The leak is amplified by StdioServerTransport and StdioClientTransport, which both queue raw chunks through a kotlinx.coroutines.channels.Channel<ByteArray>(Channel.UNLIMITED) and then call readBuffer.append(chunk) without backpressure or size guard. This is a remote-pre-auth denial of service whenever an SDK stdio server's stdin is fed by an untrusted or attacker-controlled producer (for example: a host program that exec's the MCP server as a subprocess and pipes through bytes received from a network peer, or a sidecar wrapper that proxies bytes from an HTTP endpoint to the stdio transport). Version 0.13.0 fixes the issue.
- Record
CVE-2026-53937- CVSS 3.1
- 6.2 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-400, CWE-770
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| first indexed | CVE List, EUVD, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2026-53937 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 6.2) in Modelcontextprotocol Io.modelcontextprotocol:kotlin-sdk, published September 8, 2026. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.19%, the 8th percentile. No source names a fixed version.
References
github.com/modelcontextprotocol/kotlin-sdk/security/advisories/GHSA-74gp-qhv5-v493
github.com/modelcontextprotocol/kotlin-sdk/commit/6e6f80512fb8fcc9f3c031cfd693ccbcf9c4aaab
github.com/modelcontextprotocol/kotlin-sdk/blob/6d5bac1/kotlin-sdk-core/src/commonMain/kotlin/io/modelcontextprotocol/kotlin/sdk/shared/ReadBuffer.kt
github.com/modelcontextprotocol/kotlin-sdk/releases/tag/0.13.0
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/53xxx/CVE-2026-53937.json
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53937