CyberSecBulletin
CVE-2026-10536NVD status: Modified

curl: Use After Free

Published Updated By the CyberSecBulletin desk

CVE-2026-10536 is a critical-severity use after free vulnerability in curl, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an unauthenticated attacker, without any action from a user. The record lists versions 8.14.2, 8.16.1, 8.20.1 as the first without the flaw, so updating curl to one of those releases or later removes the exposure. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.6% chance of exploitation within 30 days, which is low compared with other CVEs.

Patch this week

Critical severity: a successful attack would have severe impact.

What to do

  1. Update curl to 8.14.2 or 8.16.1 or 8.20.1 or bfbff7852f050232edd3e5ca5c6bf2021c340f5a, whichever matches your release line, or a later version.
  2. Read the advisory on curl.se for workarounds and exact fixed builds.
  3. Until you can update, restrict network access to the affected service so it is not reachable from untrusted networks.

Affected products and versions

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed in
Curlcurl7.88.0 up to, but not including, 8.14.2; 8.15.0 up to, but not including, 8.16.1; 8.17.0 up to, but not including, 8.20.1; 71b7e0161032927cdfb4e75ea40f65b8898b3956 up to, but not including, bfbff7852f050232edd3e5ca5c6bf2021c340f5a; 8.20.0; 8.19.0; 8.18.0; 8.17.0; and 29 more ranges8.14.2, 8.16.1, 8.20.1, bfbff7852f050232edd3e5ca5c6bf2021c340f5a

Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.

How the severity score breaks down

Attack vector
NetworkCan be exploited remotely over a network, including the internet.
Attack complexity
LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
Privileges required
NoneNo account or login is needed.
User interaction
NoneNo action by a victim is required.
Scope
UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality
HighAll data handled by the component can be read.
Integrity
HighData or code can be modified at will.
Availability
HighThe component can be taken down completely.

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. Scored by CISA (ADP).

Official description

A use-after-free vulnerability exists in libcurl when an application configures an HTTP/2 stream-dependency tree via `CURLOPT_STREAM_DEPENDS` or `CURLOPT_STREAM_DEPENDS_E`, subsequently invokes `curl_easy_reset()`, and finally terminates the handle with `curl_easy_cleanup()`. During this final cleanup phase, libcurl attempts to access and modify an internal structure that was already freed during the reset operation.

Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.

The underlying weakness: Use After Free

The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory belongs to the code that operates on the new pointer.

How developers prevent this class of flaw

  • Choose a language that provides automatic memory management.
  • When freeing pointers, be sure to set them to NULL once they are freed. However, the utilization of multiple or complex data structures may lower the usefulness of this strategy.

More Use After Free vulnerabilities (CWE-416)

Timeline

  1. CVE record published.
  2. CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: poc, automatable: yes, technical impact: total).
  3. Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).

References

Technical write-ups (may include proof of concept)

Other vulnerabilities in curl

All curl vulnerabilities

Recent Use After Free vulnerabilities

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