CVE-2026-44891
An attacker can send a large number of short headers that are accumulated in memory inside DefaultStompHeadersSubframe until the JVM throws an OutOfMemoryError, causing denial of service for servers exposing a STOMP endpoint based on StompSubframeDecoder.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.42%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
Netty is a network application framework for development of protocol servers and clients. Prior to 4.1.136.Final and 4.2.16.Final, io.netty.handler.codec.stomp.StompSubframeDecoder fails to limit the total number of headers or their cumulative size per frame, and the maxLineLength parameter only restricts individual header lines. An attacker can send a large number of short headers that are accumulated in memory inside DefaultStompHeadersSubframe until the JVM throws an OutOfMemoryError, causing denial of service for servers exposing a STOMP endpoint based on StompSubframeDecoder. This issue is fixed in versions 4.1.136.Final and 4.2.16.Final.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- EPSS
- 0.42% probability · 36th percentile
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-400, CWE-770
- Affected
- netty/netty
- Source
- security-advisories@github.com
References
- https://github.com/netty/netty/commit/5b68c61f37aa4a3045cba624cbea239655c9003bPatch
- https://github.com/netty/netty/commit/bb2ff68a1fb71cb4b0eb9a9e17b66c52aff680c6Patch
- https://github.com/netty/netty/pull/17063Issue Tracking, Patch
- https://github.com/netty/netty/pull/17065Issue Tracking, Patch
- https://github.com/netty/netty/releases/tag/netty-4.1.136.FinalRelease Notes
- https://github.com/netty/netty/releases/tag/netty-4.2.16.FinalRelease Notes
- https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-vhch-2wf3-m8rpExploit, Vendor Advisory
- https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-vhch-2wf3-m8rpExploit, Vendor Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.