Improper input validation in Netty
CVE-2026-100663
Netty's HTTP/3 codec (io.netty:netty-codec-http3) from 4.2.2.Final through 4.2.17.Final does not special-case HTTP/1 CONNECT authority-form request-targets when converting HTTP/1 messages to HTTP/3 in HttpConversionUtil.toHttp3Headers. The authority-form target (e.g., "CONNECT trusted.example:443") is parsed as a URI, so its host is emitted as :scheme, :path is set to "/", and the HTTP/1 Host header is used as :authority; if no Host header is present the CONNECT target is dropped. In a Netty-based HTTP/1-to-HTTP/3 proxy or gateway, a remote client can send a CONNECT request whose Host header names a different authority than the request-target, producing a malformed HTTP/3 CONNECT whose tunnel :authority is attacker-controlled. This can bypass tunnel allow-lists, egress policy, backend selection, or audit controls that validate the HTTP/1 CONNECT request-target before forwarding over HTTP/3. The issue is fixed in 4.2.18.Final.
Vulnerability class: Drupalgeddon 2 (CVE-2018-7600)
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 7.5 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.003 (23.1th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 23rd percentile — 23.1% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.003 · newest: 0.003 · change: 0.000
Affected products
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
- GitHub Security Advisory (GHSA-jgph-cgq3-c627) (vendor-advisory)
- VulnCheck Advisory: Netty HTTP/1 CONNECT authority-form mistranslated to malformed HTTP/3 (third-party-advisory)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-100663?
- CVE-2026-100663 is a high-severity vulnerability in Netty, classified under Improper Input Validation. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2026-09-26.
- How severe is CVE-2026-100663?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.