Unauthenticated service interruption via eager ClientHello allocation
Published Jun 12, 2026 · Updated Jun 12, 2026
Resource exhaustion in Netty before 4.1.135.Final and 4.2.0.Final through 4.2.14.Final allows remote attackers to interrupt services. SslClientHelloHandler.decode() trusts a 24-bit ClientHello length and eagerly allocates that many bytes when default SNI constructors disable the length guard and timeout. An unauthenticated TLS connection can retain an allocation approaching 16 MiB until closure, so concurrent connections can exhaust memory and interrupt the hosting application.
Summary
What happened
Resource exhaustion in Netty before 4.1.135.Final and 4.2.0.Final through 4.2.14.Final allows remote attackers to interrupt services. SslClientHelloHandler.decode() trusts a 24-bit ClientHello length and eagerly allocates that many bytes when default SNI constructors disable the length guard and timeout. An unauthenticated TLS connection can retain an allocation approaching 16 MiB until closure, so concurrent connections can exhaust memory and interrupt the hosting application.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-45416
- Published
- Jun 12, 2026
- Updated
- Jun 12, 2026
- Vendor
- The Netty Project
- Product
- Netty
- Classifications
- CWE-770, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jun 12, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jun 12, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=< 4.1.135.Final
- Affected versionversion=>= 4.2.0.Final, < 4.2.15.Final
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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