Description
In Suricata before 4.x, it was possible to trigger lots of redundant checks on the content of crafted network traffic with a certain signature, because of DetectEngineContentInspection in detect-engine-content-inspection.c. The search engine doesn't stop when it should after no match is found; instead, it stops only upon reaching inspection-recursion-limit (3000 by default).
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | suricata | 1:4.0.0-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | suricata | 1:4.0.0-1 | — |
| Debian 8 | suricata | 2.0.7-2+deb8u3 | DLA-1603-1 |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | suricata | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | suricata | No fix yet | — |
Advisories 1
- DLA-1603-1 suricata - security update Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026