tokio-quiche: Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime
CVE-2026-12708 is a high-severity missing release of memory after effective lifetime vulnerability in tokio-quiche from Cloudflare, with a CVSS 4.0 base score of 8.7 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an unauthenticated attacker, without any action from a user. Affected tokio-quiche versions: 0.0.1 through 0.20.1. The record does not name a fixed version, so check the vendor advisory. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.36% chance of exploitation within 30 days, which is low compared with other CVEs.
High severity with no evidence of exploitation so far.
What to do
- Check which version of tokio-quiche you run against the affected versions below, and install the vendor's latest release.
- Read the advisory on github.com for workarounds and exact fixed builds.
- Until you can update, restrict network access to the affected service so it is not reachable from untrusted networks.
Affected products and versions
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | tokio-quiche | 0.0.1 through 0.20.1 | Not stated |
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.
- Attack requirements
- NoneThe attack does not depend on a particular deployment or configuration.
- Privileges required
- NoneNo account or login is needed.
- User interaction
- NoneNo action by a victim is required.
- Confidentiality (vulnerable system)
- NoneNo loss of confidentiality on the vulnerable system.
- Integrity (vulnerable system)
- NoneNo loss of integrity on the vulnerable system.
- Availability (vulnerable system)
- HighSerious loss of availability on the vulnerable system.
- Confidentiality (other systems)
- NoneNo loss of confidentiality on systems beyond the vulnerable one.
- Integrity (other systems)
- NoneNo loss of integrity on systems beyond the vulnerable one.
- Availability (other systems)
- NoneNo loss of availability on systems beyond the vulnerable one.
Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X. Scored by CNA (cloudflare.com).
Official description
Summary Cloudflare tokio-quiche was found to contain an uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in its HTTP/3 DATAGRAM handling. For every previously unseen flow identifier (quarter stream ID) received in a DATAGRAM frame, tokio-quiche creates and retains new, per-flow state. A remote peer can send DATAGRAMs with many distinct identifiers, causing the per-connection flow map and associated channel state to grow without bound. Impact Exploitation can exhaust process memory and cause a denial of service. The vulnerable code is used in both client and server configurations, so either role can be affected by a malicious peer. QUIC DATAGRAM support in tokio-quiche is enabled by default through QuicSettings::enable_dgram; applications can disable it by setting this field to false. The vulnerable HTTP/3 path is reachable only when DATAGRAM support is negotiated with the peer. Core quiche and HTTP/3 deployments without DATAGRAM support are not affected. Mitigation Disable DATAGRAMs in tokio-quiche’s QuicSettings::enable_dgram. Remediation Upgrade to tokio-quiche version 0.23.0 or later. The fixed code creates flow state only for valid DATAGRAM-capable request streams, which are bounded by QUIC’s stream limits. To tolerate packet reordering, servers retain early DATAGRAMs in a bounded, expiring buffer, while clients discard DATAGRAMs for unknown flows.
Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.
The underlying weakness: Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime
The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, making the memory unavailable for reallocation and reuse.
How developers prevent this class of flaw
- Choose a language or tool that provides automatic memory management, or makes manual memory management less error-prone. For example, glibc in Linux provides protection against free of invalid pointers. When using Xcode to target OS X or iOS, enable automatic reference counting (ARC). To help correctly and consistently manage memory when programming in C++, consider using a smart pointer class such as std
- Use an abstraction library to abstract away risky APIs. Not a complete solution.
- Consider using the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage collector (bdwgc), which can help avoid leaks.
More Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime vulnerabilities (CWE-401)
Timeline
- CVE record published.
- CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: none, automatable: yes, technical impact: partial).
- Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).
References
Other references
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