Netty before 4.2.18.Final QpackEncoder Unbounded Memory Retention (CVE-2026-100660) | HOL Guard CVE

High · CVSS 8.7CVE-2026-100660

Netty before 4.2.18.Final QpackEncoder Unbounded Memory Retention

Answer in brief

CVE-2026-100660 records a High severity (CVSS 8.7) vulnerability in Netty before 4.2.18.Final QpackEncoder Unbounded Memory Retention. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. The current feed maps netty/netty (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.

Analysis pending evidence review

HOL Guard separates source facts from reviewed analysis. See the methodology.

Published Sep 26, 2026Updated Sep 26, 2026Source checked Sep 26, 2026First seen by HOL Sep 26, 2026Material review Sep 26, 2026

Upstream Advisory

Key facts

Risk: High · CVSS 8.7
Exploitation: Not marked as known exploited
Affected software: 1 mapped package or product
Fix availability: Available

Why this deserves its current priority

CVSS is 8.7. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. Treat this as a source-backed prioritization signal, not a statement about your environment.

Analysis status

Analysis pending evidence review

Factual feed record only; HOL analysis is not approved for indexing. Read the methodology.

Affected scope and exposure questions

The current feed maps netty/netty (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.

Mapped affected packages and fixed versions
Package	Affected range	Fixed version
netty/nettygeneric	>=0 <4.2.18.Final	4.2.18.Final

Recommended response

Check inventory. Check lockfiles and deployed manifests for netty/netty.
Review the reported fix. Update netty/netty to 4.2.18.Final if you use the affected versions. Test the change in a non-production environment first.

Evidence timeline and material changes

Published upstream
Sep 26, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:record
Source modified
Sep 26, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:record
First seen by HOL
Sep 26, 2026

Sources and claim methodology

Upstream source 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.

Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.