Resource exhaustion in Netty

CVE-2026-48043

Netty is a network application framework for development of protocol servers and clients. In netty-codec-http2 prior to versions 4.1.135.Final and 4.2.15.Final, the `DelegatingDecompressorFrameListener` class orchestrates HTTP/2 decompression by embedding a per-stream `EmbeddedChannel` that runs the appropriate decompression codec (gzip, deflate, zstd) and forwards decompressed chunks to a wrapped listener. Each decompressed chunk is a pooled `ByteBuf` handed to an anonymous `ChannelInboundHandlerAdapter` tail handler, which becomes the sole owner responsible for releasing it. A remote peer could send frames that would result in the flow-controller throwing and so trigger a resource leak which at the end might take down the whole JVM due OOME. Versions 4.1.135.Final and 4.2.15.Final patch the issue.

Vulnerability class: DoS (Denial of Service)

EPSS: 0.006 (47.5th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.3 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L.

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-2026-48043?
CVE-2026-48043 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Netty, classified under Uncontrolled Resource Consumption. CVSS score: 5.3/10. Published 2026-06-12.
How severe is CVE-2026-48043?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.3 out of 10.