Service interruption via unbounded gzip decompression
Published Apr 9, 2026 · Updated Apr 9, 2026
Denial of service in Orthanc 1.12.10 and earlier allows remote attackers to exhaust server memory through a gzip-encoded HTTP request. Orthanc trusts forged gzip size metadata and allocates memory during HTTP request decompression without enforcing a decompressed-size limit. The attack requires network access to the HTTP service but no privileges or user interaction, and memory exhaustion interrupts the server.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in Orthanc 1.12.10 and earlier allows remote attackers to exhaust server memory through a gzip-encoded HTTP request. Orthanc trusts forged gzip size metadata and allocates memory during HTTP request decompression without enforcing a decompressed-size limit. The attack requires network access to the HTTP service but no privileges or user interaction, and memory exhaustion interrupts the server.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-5438
- Published
- Apr 9, 2026
- Updated
- Apr 9, 2026
- Vendor
- Orthanc
- Product
- Orthanc
- Classifications
- CWE-770, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Apr 9, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Apr 9, 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=0 <=1.12.10
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
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
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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