# CVE-2026-85522: Valkey out-of-bounds read in slot migration job creation

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-85522-valkey-out-of-bounds-read-in-slot-migration-job-creation  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2026-09-04. Updated: 2026-09-26  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2026-85522 · Severity: medium · CVSS 5.3 · Published 2026-09-04

Valkey is an open-source, distributed key-value database used for caching and real-time workloads. A vulnerability in the slot migration feature allows a malicious RDB (snapshot) file with a crafted job name to trigger an out-of-bounds memory read during server startup, potentially allowing remote attackers to read sensitive data or cause a denial of service.

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-85522 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-85522 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-85522?** Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 5.3, published 4 September 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** valkey-io Valkey up to 9.5.4 and 9.1.0.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-85522?** A patch was published on 2026-07-21: Fix committed (f4dc3ca09eb650c2fe14060090a41c524eca803f) Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

**How is CVE-2026-85522 attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in a software library.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-85522?** Check whether anything you run is named in the advisory. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## Technical details

The vulnerability is an out-of-bounds read in the `createSlotImportJob()` function within `src/cluster_migrateslots.c`. The root cause is that `clusterRDBLoadSlotImport()` accepts a variable-length `job_name` from an RDB file, but `createSlotImportJob()` always copies exactly `CLUSTER_NAMELEN` (40) bytes via `memcpy`, without validating the actual length. A crafted RDB file with a job_name shorter than 40 bytes triggers a heap out-of-bounds read during server startup. The attack vector is network-accessible if an attacker can provide a malicious RDB file (e.g., via replication or file upload). The fix validates that `job_name` length matches `CLUSTER_NAMELEN` exactly, matching the existing command-path check. Patches are available in versions 9.0.5 and 9.1.1 (commit f4dc3ca09eb650c2fe14060090a41c524eca803f).

## Affected products

- valkey-io Valkey up to 9.5.4 and 9.1.0

## Timeline

- 2026-09-04: disclosed: CVE-2026-85522 published
- 2026-07-21: patched: Fix committed (f4dc3ca09eb650c2fe14060090a41c524eca803f)
- 2026-07-22: other: Patch authored

## References

- [https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/](https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/)
- [https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/commit/f4dc3ca09eb650c2fe14060090a41c524eca803f](https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/commit/f4dc3ca09eb650c2fe14060090a41c524eca803f)