COVESA vsomeip TCP Buffer Lets Remote Peers Exhaust Memory

A short TCP message can exhaust memory in COVESA vsomeip 3.7.3 and earlier when a reliable endpoint uses its unlimited default. CERT/CC describes a service capped at 1.5 GB that was OOM-killed after a 16-byte message declared a 3 GB payload. The receive buffer expands toward the header length before the declared bytes arrive. A reachable remote peer needs no credentials or valid service request. A client connected to a malicious or compromised server follows the same receive path.

Upgrade installed instances to 3.7.4 or later. Release 3.7.4 replaces MESSAGE_SIZE_UNLIMITED with a 10 MiB DEFAULT_MAX_MESSAGE_SIZE and rejects oversized declarations before allocation. While scheduling the upgrade, configure a service-appropriate max-payload-size-reliable or equivalent per-service limit. CERT/CC says explicitly limited endpoints are unaffected by this behavior.

Find the TCP services and client connections that use vsomeip; restrict endpoint access to known peers on trusted vehicle or lab networks. Verify the running version or configured limit and, in an isolated test environment, confirm oversized declared lengths are rejected before memory grows. Monitor process memory, out-of-memory events and unexpected or repeated inbound TCP connections to the relevant SOME/IP ports. Connection and memory signals guide triage; the running version and loaded limit determine exposure.