Integer overflow causes an infinite loop in packet buffer growth in PgBouncer
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-190 and the CVSS impact.
Summary
Integer overflow in the packet buffer growth logic in PgBouncer through 1.25.2 allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to cause a denial of service. Sufficiently large input makes the buffer size computation overflow, leaving the growth loop unable to terminate. Because PgBouncer serves all clients from a single process, this saturates a CPU core and stalls every pooled connection until the process is killed. Both unauthenticated and authenticated code paths can reach the overflow.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- Yes
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | PgBouncer | up to 1.25.2 | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- PgBouncer Vendor— Affected up to 1.25.2 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
Remediation
Red Hat 1 advisory
- RHSA-2026:70698 Released 2026-09-23 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
- Red Hat Hardened Images pgbouncer-1.26.0-0.1.hum1@aarch64, pgbouncer-1.26.0-0.1.hum1@src, pgbouncer-1.26.0-0.1.hum1@x86_64
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Hardened Images | Fixed | RHSA-2026:70698 |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-6668
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-r96c-7w9v-wrc8
- 2026-10-25 Priority changed: LOW → MEDIUM
References
Sources
- CVE-2026-6668 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-6668 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-r96c-7w9v-wrc8 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-6668 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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