CVE-2026-100660

Netty before 4.2.18.Final QpackEncoder Unbounded Memory Retention

HIGH
7.5
CVSS Score
Published: September 26, 2026 at 01:23 PM UTC
Updated: September 28, 2026 at 05:17 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorNetty

Using netty by netty?

Get instant alerts when new vulnerabilities affect netty - before attackers find them.

Real-time alertsTrack your software stackFree plan available
Severity
HIGH7.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.5%
SSVC
PoC

Description

Netty's HTTP/3 codec (io.netty:netty-codec-http3) from 4.2.0.Final through 4.2.17.Final retains unbounded per-stream QPACK encoder state. QpackEncoder stores a queue and a dynamic-table index tracker for every encoded field section that references the QPACK dynamic table, keyed by the peer-controlled QUIC stream ID, and these entries are released only when the remote decoder sends a Section Acknowledgment or Stream Cancellation instruction — not when the HTTP/3 stream completes. There is no limit on the number of tracked streams, field sections, or retained bytes. A remote, unauthenticated HTTP/3 client can advertise a non-zero QPACK dynamic-table capacity, acknowledge the table insertion so the server reuses a dynamically indexed response header, and then omit all mandatory Section Acknowledgments while issuing sequential requests over a single QUIC connection, bypassing concurrent-stream limits and causing unbounded heap growth until the server exhausts memory (denial of service). Fixed in 4.2.18.Final.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 4.2.18.Final
Vendor states this is fixed in 4.2.18.Final (unaffected)

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCPoCAutomatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

7.5HIGHVulnCheck
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusDEFERRED
CWE
CWE-770

Get alerted

Stop reading CVE feeds looking for your own stack

Track the products you run and VulnTracker tells you when a new CVE affects them — with what is known about fixing it, and nothing about the rest.

Free plan, no card