Netty HTTP/3 QPACK encoder-stream unbounded memory exhaustion DoS (CVE-2026-100662) | HOL Guard CVE

High · CVSS 8.7CVE-2026-100662

Netty HTTP/3 QPACK encoder-stream unbounded memory exhaustion DoS

Answer in brief

CVE-2026-100662 records a High severity (CVSS 8.7) vulnerability in Netty HTTP/3 QPACK encoder-stream unbounded memory exhaustion DoS. 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	>=4.2.0.Final <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) versions 4.2.0.Final through 4.2.17.Final contain an uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in the QPACK encoder-stream instruction decoder (QpackEncoderHandler, installed on the peer-initiated unidirectional QPACK encoder stream, type 0x02). The handler accepts an attacker-declared string-literal length of up to Integer.MAX_VALUE (~2 GiB) for the Name Length and Value Length fields of the "Insert With Literal Name" instruction (RFC 9204 §4.3.3), with no per-instruction or per-literal length cap and no cumulation-size limit; the existing HTTP/3 limits (maxHeaderListSize, maxUnknownFramePayloadLength, DEFAULT_MAX_FIELD_SECTION_SIZE) are not applied to this handler. A remote, unauthenticated peer with an established HTTP/3 connection to a default Netty HTTP/3 server can declare a very large literal length and then trickle fewer bytes than declared, causing the ByteToMessageDecoder MERGE cumulator to retain and grow the per-connection buffer, and ultimately triggering a large byte-array allocation. This leads to unbounded per-connection heap growth and OutOfMemoryError, resulting in denial of service. Fixed in 4.2.18.Final.

Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.