CPU exhaustion via unterminated HTTP/3 stream loop
Published Mar 19, 2026 · Updated Mar 19, 2026
Denial of service in ASP.NET Core Kestrel in Microsoft .NET 8.0 before 8.0.22 and .NET 9.0 before 9.0.11 allows remote attackers to exhaust CPU. Http3ControlStream.HandleEncodingDecodingTask loops on Input.ReadAsync after a peer ends an empty QPACK encoder or decoder stream, repeatedly advancing an already completed buffer instead of terminating. Remote attackers need HTTP/3 reachability but no credentials; one QUIC STREAM frame can saturate CPU, and repeated frames deny service to benign clients.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in ASP.NET Core Kestrel in Microsoft .NET 8.0 before 8.0.22 and .NET 9.0 before 9.0.11 allows remote attackers to exhaust CPU. Http3ControlStream.HandleEncodingDecodingTask loops on Input.ReadAsync after a peer ends an empty QPACK encoder or decoder stream, repeatedly advancing an already completed buffer instead of terminating. Remote attackers need HTTP/3 reachability but no credentials; one QUIC STREAM frame can saturate CPU, and repeated frames deny service to benign clients.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-25667
- Published
- Mar 19, 2026
- Updated
- Mar 19, 2026
- Vendor
- Unknown vendor
- Product
- Unknown product
- Classifications
- CWE-400, T1499.003
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 19, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Mar 19, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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What is affected?
Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Kestrel Denial of Service proof of conceptproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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