Memory exhaustion in Pingora HTTP/2 server through unbounded limits
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. Impact type from CWE-770.
Summary
Cloudflare's Pingora before version 0.8.1 has an HTTP/2 server that allocates memory without limits when the application does not set its own H2Options. A remote, unauthenticated client can open an unlimited number of streams on one connection and send compressed headers that expand into very large header lists, which exhausts server memory (CWE-770). The reporter showed that a single connection could get a Pingora process with a 2 GiB memory limit killed by the out-of-memory killer.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-10-28
Description from the CNA
Summary Before version 0.8.1, Pingora's HTTP/2 server used the h2 crate's default limits unless the application set its own 16 MiB decoded header-list size and no limit on concurrent streams. A remote, unauthenticated client can send 1-byte HPACK references to a near-empty header, making the server allocate hundreds of thousands of header fields per stream across an unlimited number of streams on one connection, and use HTTP/2 flow control to keep those streams open. This can exhaust memory and degrade or terminate the Pingora process. Impact Remote, unauthenticated denial of service against any Pingora service that terminates HTTP/2 (h2 or h2c) without explicitly setting max_header_list_size and max_concurrent_streams. The reporter showed that a single connection could get a Pingora process with a 2 GiB memory limit OOM-killed. Note that Cloudflare CDN customers were unaffected, as internal Pingora services at Cloudflare do not have HTTP/2 clients. Mitigation: * Upgrade to pingora 0.8.1 or later (fix: https://github.com/cloudflare/pingora/commit/d193c8d49b8b7c1c1ede93183759caa4f6906bbd ). When no H2Options are supplied, Pingora now advertises and enforces a 64 KiB decoded header-list limit and at most 100 concurrent streams per connection. * Applications that supply their own H2Options are not covered by these defaults and must set max_header_list_size and max_concurrent_streams explicitly (this also works on versions before 0.8.1), or, on 0.8.1 and later, start from pingora_core::protocols::http::v2::server::default_h2_options(). H2Options::default() does not include these limits.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | https://github.com/cloudflare/pingora | 0.1.0 to before 0.8.1 | 0.8.1 | Patch available | CNA |
- https://github.com/cloudflare/pingora VendorCloudflare Affected 0.1.0 to before 0.8.1 Fixed in 0.8.1 Patch available CNA
CPE names Threatist (inferred) · 1
Inferred from how NVD named this product before; not given by a source.
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:cloudflare:pingora:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | — | — | Cloudflare |
- cpe:2.3:a:cloudflare:pingora:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·Cloudflare
Remediation
Upgrade Cloudflare Pingora to version 0.8.1 or later. Applications that supply their own H2Options must set max_header_list_size and max_concurrent_streams explicitly, or start from pingora_core::protocols::http::v2::server::default_h2_options() on 0.8.1 and later.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-10-28
- Fix · CNA https://github.com/cloudflare/pingora (Cloudflare) Fixed in 0.8.1
Timeline
- 2026-10-20 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-105297
- 2026-10-20 CISA SSVC decision points changed
- 2026-10-20 Priority changed: MEDIUM → LOW
References
More Cloudflare vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-12208 Cloudflare Universal SSL automatically managed CAA RRset supersedes customer-configured CAA records CVSS 4.0HIGH 7.6
- TI-2025-36979 Cloudflare vite plugin exposes secrets over the built-in dev server CVSS 4.0LOW 2.9
- TI-2014-08329 Out-of-bounds write in github.com/cloudflare/golz4 CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2021-02817 Arbitrary filepath traversal via URI injection CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2023-02843 Out of Bounds Slice index in cfnts leads to remote panic CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.6
- TI-2026-02435 HTTP Request Smuggling via HTTP/1.0 and Transfer-Encoding Misparsing CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.3
Sources
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences