quic-go: HTTP/3 QPACK Trailer Expansion Memory Exhaustion
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
- Partial Red Hat: 11 fixed, 3 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-770.
Summary
quic-go is an implementation of the QUIC protocol in Go. Prior to version 0.59.1, an attacker can cause excessive memory allocation in quic-go's HTTP/3 client and server implementations by sending a QPACK-encoded HEADERS frame that decodes into a large trailer field section with many unique field names and/or large values. The implementation builds an `http.Header` for the corresponding `http.Request` or `http.Response`, while only enforcing limits on the size of the QPACK-compressed HEADERS frame, not on the decoded field section. This can lead to memory exhaustion. This is very similar to CVE-2025-64702. The difference is that this issue uses HTTP trailers, rather than HTTP headers, as the attack vector. A misbehaving or malicious peer can cause a denial-of-service (DoS) attack against quic-go's HTTP/3 servers or clients by triggering excessive memory allocation, potentially leading to crashes or resource exhaustion. This affects both servers and clients due to symmetric header construction. Version 0.59.1 enforces RFC 9114 decoded field section size limits for trailers as well. It incrementally decodes QPACK entries and checks the field section size after each entry, aborting the stream if an entry causes the limit to be exceeded.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| quic-go | quic-go | before 0.59.1 | 0.59.1 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | github.com/quic-go/quic-go (Go) | before 0.59.1 | 0.59.1 | Patch available | GHSA-vvgj-x9jq-8cj9 |
- quic-go Vendorquic-go Affected before 0.59.1 Fixed in 0.59.1 Patch available CNA
- github.com/quic-go/quic-go (Go) Vendor— Affected before 0.59.1 Fixed in 0.59.1 Patch available GHSA-vvgj-x9jq-8cj9
CPE configurations NVD · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:quic-go_project:quic-go:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | before 0.59.1 | Vulnerable | Quic-go Project |
- cpe:2.3:a:quic-go_project:quic-go:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions before 0.59.1 Vulnerable ·Quic-go Project
Remediation
- Fix · CNA quic-go (quic-go) Fixed in 0.59.1
- Fix · GHSA-vvgj-x9jq-8cj9 github.com/quic-go/quic-go (Go) Fixed in 0.59.1 Advisory →
Red Hat 9 advisories
- RHSA-2026:62260 Released 2026-09-01 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.30.0 Release.
- Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.30 registry.redhat.io/devspaces/code-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/devspaces/configbump-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/devspaces/dashboard-rhel9 +7
- RHSA-2026:53734 Released 2026-08-11 · Red Hat rating ImportantOpenShift Virtualization v4.21 Images
- Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.21 registry.redhat.io/container-native-virtualization/kubevirt-apiserver-proxy-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:50479 Released 2026-08-04 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 Container Release Update
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 registry.redhat.io/ansible-automation-platform-26/controller-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/ansible-automation-platform-26/de-minimal-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/ansible-automation-platform-26/de-supported-rhel9 +7
Show 6 more Red Hat advisories
- RHSA-2026:50336 Released 2026-08-04 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 Product Security and Bug Fix Update
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 10 receptor-1.6.7-1.el10ap, receptorctl-1.6.7-1.el10ap
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9 automation-controller-4.7.15-2.el9ap, automation-controller-cli-4.7.15-2.el9ap, automation-controller-server-4.7.15-2.el9ap +15
- RHSA-2026:50340 Released 2026-08-04 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.7 Container Release Update
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.7 registry.redhat.io/ansible-automation-platform-27/controller-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/ansible-automation-platform-27/de-minimal-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/ansible-automation-platform-27/de-supported-rhel9 +7
- RHSA-2026:50319 Released 2026-08-04 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 Product Security and Bug Fix Update
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8 automation-controller-venv-tower-4.6.31-1.el8ap, automation-eda-controller-1.1.21-1.el8ap, automation-eda-controller-base-1.1.21-1.el8ap +11
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9 automation-controller-venv-tower-4.6.31-1.el9ap, automation-eda-controller-1.1.21-1.el9ap, automation-eda-controller-base-1.1.21-1.el9ap +11
- RHSA-2026:50318 Released 2026-08-04 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.7 Product Security and Bug Fix Update
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.7 for RHEL 10 receptor-1.6.7-1.el10ap
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.7 for RHEL 9 receptor-1.6.7-1.el9ap
- RHSA-2026:40223 Released 2026-07-15 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
- Red Hat Hardened Images caddy-2.11.4-0.2.hum1@aarch64, caddy-2.11.4-0.2.hum1@src, caddy-2.11.4-0.2.hum1@x86_64
- RHSA-2026:15862 Released 2026-05-09 · Red Hat rating CriticalRed Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
- Red Hat Hardened Images trivy-0.69.3-1.2.hum1@aarch64, trivy-0.69.3-1.2.hum1@src, trivy-0.69.3-1.2.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 Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:50319 |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:50319 |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:50479 |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 10 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:50336 |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:50336 |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.7 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:50340 |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.7 for RHEL 10 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:50318 |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.7 for RHEL 9 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:50318 |
| Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.21 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:53734 |
| Red Hat Hardened Images | Fixed | RHSA-2026:15862, RHSA-2026:40223 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.30 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:62260 |
Not affected: 16 products
- OpenShift Service Mesh 2
- OpenShift Service Mesh 3
- Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 10
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.7
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.7 for RHEL 10
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.7 for RHEL 9
- Red Hat Hardened Images
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5
- Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.30
- Red Hat Openshift Data Foundation 4
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-40898
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-vvgj-x9jq-8cj9
- 2026-10-31 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Advisory 3
More quic-go vulnerabilities
- TI-2024-14782 QUIC's Connection ID Mechanism vulnerable to Memory Exhaustion Attack CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2023-24866 quic-go vulnerable to pointer dereference that can lead to panic CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-17320 webtransport-go CloseWithError can block indefinitely CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-17319 webtransport-go affected by Memory Exhaustion Attack due to Missing Length Check in WT_CLOSE_SESSION Capsule CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2025-37061 quic-go has Client Crash Due to Premature HANDSHAKE_DONE Frame CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2025-21196 quic-go Has Panic in Path Probe Loss Recovery Handling CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2026-40898 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-40898 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-vvgj-x9jq-8cj9 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-40898 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences