Unititialized memory access in h2o
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · None · High
- Fix status
- No fix listed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA.
Summary
h2o is an open source http server. In code prior to the `8c0eca3` commit h2o may attempt to access uninitialized memory. When receiving QUIC frames in certain order, HTTP/3 server-side implementation of h2o can be misguided to treat uninitialized memory as HTTP/3 frames that have been received. When h2o is used as a reverse proxy, an attacker can abuse this vulnerability to send internal state of h2o to backend servers controlled by the attacker or third party. Also, if there is an HTTP endpoint that reflects the traffic sent from the client, an attacker can use that reflector to obtain internal state of h2o. This internal state includes traffic of other connections in unencrypted form and TLS session tickets. This vulnerability exists in h2o server with HTTP/3 support, between commit 93af138 and d1f0f65. None of the released versions of h2o are affected by this vulnerability. There are no known workarounds. Users of unreleased versions of h2o using HTTP/3 are advised to upgrade immediately.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| h2oai | h2o | Commits prior to 8c0eca3 | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- h2o Vendorh2oai Affected Commits prior to 8c0eca3 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:dena:h2o:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | before 2021-12-20 | Vulnerable | Kazuho Oku |
- cpe:2.3:a:dena:h2o:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions before 2021-12-20 Vulnerable ·Kazuho Oku
Remediation
No fixed version listed by the sources yet.
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2021-43848
References
More h2oai vulnerabilities
- TI-2025-05944 Deserialization Vulnerability in h2oai/h2o-3 CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2025-05102 Deserialization Vulnerability in h2oai/h2o-3 CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2024-09776 Jdbc Deserialization in h2oai/h2o-3 CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-46834 h2oGPT 0.2.1 Path Traversal via OpenAI-compatible Files API CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.3
- TI-2024-30727 H2O.ai H2O through 3.46.0.4 allows attackers to arbitrarily set the JDBC URL, leading to… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.1
- TI-2026-03424 Remote Code Execution in h2oai/h2o-3 CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
Sources
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences