All vulnerabilities
CVE-2026-78659

HTTP/2 server memory exhaustion due to Trailer headers in net/http

Go standard library net/http
CVSS
7.5High
ExploitationNo known exploitationNot in CISA KEV, which does not prove it is unexploitedCISA KEV
Exploit odds (EPSS)0.57%Chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 46% of CVEs. Scored 23 Oct 2026FIRST EPSS
Fixed in1.26.9Also 1.27.2, 0.60.0CVE List
Published8 Oct 2026Updated 9 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

When "Trailer" headers are sent by a client, the HTTP server internally uses the header values to populate the Request.Trailer map passed to the server handler. Because Request.Trailer is a map, each entry incurs memory overhead. For HTTP/2 servers, a malicious client can exploit this by sending a "Trailer" header that declares a large number of fields, causing the server to allocate a disproportionate amount of memory while bypassing Server.MaxHeaderValueCount and Server.MaxHeaderBytes limits. This exploit is not applicable for HTTP/1 servers, which do not support multiplexing a large number of requests over one TCP connection, and whose Server.MaxHeaderBytes are calculated differently.

Text from CVE List

Affected versions 3

  • net/httpaffected: all versions before 1.26.9CVE List
  • net/http/internal/http2affected: 1.27.0-0 before 1.27.2CVE List
  • golang.org/x/net/http2affected: all versions before 0.60.0CVE List

References 6