CVE-2026-54873 (GCVE-0-2026-54873)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-09-29 15:32 – Updated: 2026-09-29 15:32
VLAI
EPSS
VEX
Title
QUIC STREAM Fragment Metadata DoS
Summary
Issue summary: QUIC process may keep memory for QUIC packet
buffer for much longer period than necessary.
Impact summary: Remote peer can exploit this vulnerability
by sending maliciously crafted packets, making the local
QUIC stack to keep the memory for packet buffers allocated.
The time for which the memory remains allocated is entirely
under the control of the potentially malicious remote peer.
CWE: CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
Description: To save copy operation from the packet buffer to the
stream reassemble buffer the QUIC stack leaves the stream data
on the packet buffer waiting to be copied to a buffer provided
by the local receiving application. The QUIC stack releases
a reference to the packet buffer only after the data are copied
to the application buffer. This design is more efficient for
legitimate data transfers but enables an attacker to allocate a lot
more memory than actually required by the data kept in the receiving
stream buffer.
To mitigate the vulnerability, the QUIC stack now calculates
and monitors memory overhead for every stream. The memory overhead
for a single stream frame is calculated as a difference between the
size of the whole packet that carries the stream frame and the size
of the stream frame itself. The memory overhead for a single stream
frame is added to the total (cumulative) memory overhead QUIC stack
keeps for each stream. Once the cumulative memory overhead exceeds
64kB, the QUIC stack moves the stream frame data from the packet
buffer to the stream buffer, starting with the next packet received.
FIPS impact: no
The FIPS module is not affected as the QUIC implementation is outside of
the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.
Severity
No CVSS data available.
CWE
- CWE-770 - Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
Assigner
References
5 references
Impacted products
Date Public
2026-09-29 14:21
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"type": "reporter",
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}
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"metrics": [
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"other": {
"content": {
"text": "Low"
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}
}
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"providerMetadata": {
"dateUpdated": "2026-09-29T15:32:16.134Z",
"orgId": "3a12439a-ef3a-4c79-92e6-6081a721f1e5",
"shortName": "openssl"
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"tags": [
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},
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"name": "3.4.8 git commit",
"tags": [
"patch"
],
"url": "https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/3ea6213e050e938ecbbf8c4eff32bec2736780eb"
}
],
"source": {
"discovery": "UNKNOWN"
},
"title": "QUIC STREAM Fragment Metadata DoS",
"x_generator": {
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"assignerShortName": "openssl",
"cveId": "CVE-2026-54873",
"datePublished": "2026-09-29T15:32:16.134Z",
"dateReserved": "2026-06-16T10:18:08.635Z",
"dateUpdated": "2026-09-29T15:32:16.134Z",
"state": "PUBLISHED"
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"dataVersion": "5.2",
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"descriptions": [
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"lang": "en",
"value": "Issue summary: QUIC process may keep memory for QUIC packet\nbuffer for much longer period than necessary.\n\nImpact summary: Remote peer can exploit this vulnerability\nby sending maliciously crafted packets, making the local\nQUIC stack to keep the memory for packet buffers allocated.\nThe time for which the memory remains allocated is entirely\nunder the control of the potentially malicious remote peer.\n\nCWE: CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling\n\nDescription: To save copy operation from the packet buffer to the\nstream reassemble buffer the QUIC stack leaves the stream data\non the packet buffer waiting to be copied to a buffer provided\nby the local receiving application. The QUIC stack releases\na reference to the packet buffer only after the data are copied\nto the application buffer. This design is more efficient for\nlegitimate data transfers but enables an attacker to allocate a lot\nmore memory than actually required by the data kept in the receiving\nstream buffer.\n\nTo mitigate the vulnerability, the QUIC stack now calculates\nand monitors memory overhead for every stream. The memory overhead\nfor a single stream frame is calculated as a difference between the\nsize of the whole packet that carries the stream frame and the size\nof the stream frame itself. The memory overhead for a single stream\nframe is added to the total (cumulative) memory overhead QUIC stack\nkeeps for each stream. Once the cumulative memory overhead exceeds\n64kB, the QUIC stack moves the stream frame data from the packet\nbuffer to the stream buffer, starting with the next packet received.\n\nFIPS impact: no\nThe FIPS module is not affected as the QUIC implementation is outside of\nthe OpenSSL FIPS module boundary."
}
],
"id": "CVE-2026-54873",
"lastModified": "2026-09-29T21:27:41.130",
"metrics": {},
"published": "2026-09-29T16:17:08.763",
"references": [
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"cve": "CVE-2026-54873",
"id": "CVE-2026-54873",
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"product_status:known_affected": "88",
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"source": "Red Hat CSAF VEX",
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"title": "openssl: openssl: Denial of Service via excessive QUIC packet buffer retention",
"url": "https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-54873.json",
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}
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Forecast uses a logistic model when the trend is rising, or an exponential decay model when the trend is falling. Fitted via linearized least squares.
Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date | Other |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
- Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
- Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
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The MITRE ATT&CK techniques below are AI-generated suggestions, inferred from the description of the
vulnerability by the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-classification-roberta-base
model, served locally by ML-Gateway.
They have not been verified by an analyst and are provided for guidance only.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
Browse all ATT&CK techniques and the vulnerabilities related to each.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
Browse all ATT&CK techniques and the vulnerabilities related to each.
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Related by attack behaviour
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