All vulnerabilities
CVE-2026-100661GHSA-v5p2-hmgx-3xrx

Netty HTTP/3 QPACK Prefixed Integer DoS via Unbounded Accumulation

netty nettyFrameworks
CVSS
8.7High
ExploitationNo known exploitationNot in CISA KEV, which does not prove it is unexploitedCISA KEV
Exploit odds (EPSS)0.34%Chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 26% of CVEs. Scored 23 Oct 2026FIRST EPSS
Fixed in4.2.18.FinalFixed versionCVE List
Published26 Sep 2026Updated 2 Oct 2026CVE List

What fixes it

A fixed version on one release line is not the upgrade target for every line. Check your exact version and any vendor backports.

Description

Netty's HTTP/3 codec (io.netty:netty-codec-http3) versions 4.2.0.Final through 4.2.17.Final contain a denial-of-service vulnerability in the QPACK prefixed-integer decoder (QpackUtil.decodePrefixedInteger), which does not bound the number of continuation bytes it will process. A remote, unauthenticated peer can open a QPACK unidirectional stream (type 0x02 encoder or 0x03 decoder) and send a first byte with all prefix bits set (e.g. 0xFF for a 7-bit prefix or 0x3F for a 5-bit prefix) followed by an endless run of 0x80 continuation bytes. The decoder returns -1 ('need more bytes'), so callers never consume the input, the ByteToMessageDecoder cumulator grows without bound, and each decode() invocation re-scans the whole accumulated buffer, yielding O(N^2) CPU cost. The result is unbounded per-connection heap growth (OutOfMemoryError) and event-loop CPU starvation, reachable in every configuration. Fixed in 4.2.18.Final.

Text from CVE List

Affected versions 2

  • nettyaffected: 4.2.0.Final before 4.2.18.FinalCVE List
  • nettyunaffected: 4.2.18.FinalCVE List

References 2