Resource exhaustion in Netty

CVE-2026-46340

Netty is a network application framework for development of protocol servers and clients. In versions of netty-transport-sctp prior to 4.1.135.Final and 4.2.15.Final, for each non-complete SctpMessage fragment the handler does `fragments.put(streamId, Unpooled.wrappedBuffer(frag, byteBuf))`, wrapping the previous accumulator and the new slice into a *new* CompositeByteBuf every time. After N fragments the accumulator is an N-deep chain of composites, each holding references and component arrays; readableBytes()/getBytes() on the final buffer recurse N levels. There is no limit on N, on total bytes, or on the number of streamIdentifiers an attacker can open (each gets its own map entry). A peer that never sets the `complete` flag can grow this structure indefinitely from tiny 1-byte DATA chunks. Versions 4.1.135.Final and 4.2.15.Final patch the issue.

EPSS: 0.006 (47.0th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

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:N/A:H.

Affected products

  • Netty — versions >= 4.2.0.Final, < 4.2.15.Final, < 4.1.135.Final

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-46340?
CVE-2026-46340 is a high-severity vulnerability in Netty, classified under Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2026-06-12.
How severe is CVE-2026-46340?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.