HTTP/2 connection-window starvation pins Plug processes indefinitely in Bandit
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- None
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-770.
Summary
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling vulnerability in mtrudel bandit allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to pin an unbounded number of HTTP/2 stream processes indefinitely via connection-level flow control. When a stream's response body outruns the HTTP/2 connection-level send window (default 65,535 bytes, shared across all streams on the connection), Bandit.HTTP2.Connection queues the remaining bytes and a reply closure in pending_sends and the stream process blocks forever inside a synchronous call to the connection process. Nothing bounds that wait and nothing purges the queue: a client RST_STREAM for the blocked stream is delivered to its mailbox but never read while it is stuck inside the call, so cancelling frees nothing, and periodic PING frames keep the transport-level read timeout from ever firing. The equivalent block on the stream-level send window is already bounded at 15 seconds; the connection-level path had no such bound. Each stalled stream pins its process, Plug state, and any resource the Plug holds across the blocked write, such as a pooled upstream connection in a reverse-proxy Plug. The attacker chooses any endpoint whose response exceeds the connection window (common for most non-trivial payloads), grants a generous stream-level window so only the connection window limits it, and keeps the connection alive with periodic PINGs; the primitive is repeatable across streams and connections at the cost of one idle socket each. This issue affects bandit: from 0.3.4 before 1.12.5.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- 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
Remediation
- Fix · CNA bandit (mtrudel) Fixed in 1.12.5
Fixed in the same release
Records fixed by the same vendor advisory or release, as the CNA lists them.
- Release ·
mtrudel bandit 1.12.5
2 records Highest priority Priority HIGH 2 HIGH
Other records, highest priority first
- TI-2026-52868 HTTP/2 header field values containing CR, LF or NUL are passed to the application unvalidated in BanditPriority HIGH 70
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-74836
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-fv6j-9p8m-c3wr
- 2026-10-19 EPSS moved to the below the 50th percentile
- 2026-10-25 EPSS moved to the 50th–90th percentile
References
More mtrudel vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-81989 HTTP/2 request bodies made of 1-byte DATA frames amplify memory use in Bandit CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
- TI-2026-74311 Bandit HTTP/2 send timers reset, letting trickles pin stream processes CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
- TI-2026-46780 Quadratic CPU blow-up reassembling fragmented WebSocket messages in Bandit CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
- TI-2026-31007 WebSocket fragmented message reassembly unbounded in bandit CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
- TI-2026-28689 HTTP/1 chunked decoder infinite loop on requests with trailer fields in bandit CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
- TI-2026-28686 HTTP/1 chunked body reader ignores length cap in bandit CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
Sources
- CVE-2026-74836 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-74836 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-fv6j-9p8m-c3wr · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
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