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OpenAdvisories
High · 7.5 CVE-2026-18798 EUVD-2026-65480GHSA-3j55-qf57-hqc2

QUIC Server May Trigger Double Free When Processing INITIAL Packet

Published Aug 25, 2026 · Updated Aug 25, 2026 · Assigned by openssl

Description

Issue summary: QUIC server may double free QRX (QUIC record layer RX) object
when channel creation fails for initial packet.

Impact summary: Double free leads to heap corruption, which typically results in
termination of QUIC server process, leading to Denial of Service. There is so
far no evidence that this double free is exploitable for remote code execution,
thus it is considered highly improbable.

CWE: CWE-415: Double Free

Description: In order to validate initial packet, OpenSSL QUIC stack default
packet handler (port_default_packet_handler()) creates a so-called QRX object.
If the initial packet validates successfully with QRX object, the default packet
handler proceeds to channel (connection object) creation. The QRX object used
for packet validation is passed to port_bind_channel(), so it becomes part of
the newly created connection. If port_bind_channel() fails, then it also frees
the QRX object. Once port_bind_channel() returns, the port_default_packet_handler()
detects the failure and proceeds to the error branch, where the same QRX object is
freed for the second time.

The failure in port_bind_channel() function can be induced with a relatively
low effort by a malformed (non RFC 9000 compliant) INITIAL packet. If the packet
carries DCID (destination connection ID) which is shorter than 8 bytes, then
port_bind_channel() jumps to the error path after ossl_quic_lcidm_enrol_odcid()
detects that the DCID has invalid length.

FIPS impact: no
The FIPS module is not affected, as the QUIC implementation is outside of
the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
OpenSSL OpenSSL 4.0.0 – < 4.0.2, 3.6.0 – < 3.6.4, 3.5.0 – < 3.5.8 4.0.2

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.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 openssl 3.6.4-1 —
Debian 13 openssl 3.5.7-1~deb13u2 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 26.10 edk2 +1 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS edk2 +1 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS openssl 3.5.5-1ubuntu3.4 USN-8678-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS openssl 3.0.13-0ubuntu3.15 USN-8678-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS openssl 3.0.2-0ubuntu1.29 USN-8678-1
Show 2 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS nodejs No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS nodejs No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
RHEL 10 openssl +3 1:3.5.8-1.el10_2 RHSA-2026:67154
RHEL 9 openssl +3 1:3.5.8-1.el9_8 RHSA-2026:67165
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Red Hat Hardened Images 1 openssl +10 3.5.8-0.1.hum1 RHSA-2026:59641, RHSA-2026:59635

AlmaLinux

Errata ↗
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
AlmaLinux 10 openssl +3 1:3.5.8-1.el10_2.alma.1 ALSA-2026:67154
AlmaLinux 9 openssl +3 1:3.5.8-1.el9_8 ALSA-2026:67165

Rocky Linux

Errata ↗
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Rocky Linux 10 openssl 1:3.5.8-1.el10_2 RLSA-2026:67154
Rocky Linux 9 openssl 1:3.5.8-1.el9_8 RLSA-2026:67165
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES 15 SP7 openssl-3 3.5.0-150700.5.50.1 SUSE-SU-2026:4039-1
Show 3 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES for SAP 16.0 openssl-3 3.5.0-160000.10.1 SUSE-SU-2026:23609-1
SLES 16.0 openssl-3 3.5.0-160000.10.1 SUSE-SU-2026:23609-1
SLE Micro 6.2 openssl-3 3.5.0-160000.10.1 SUSE-SU-2026:23463-1
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Tumbleweed openssl-3 3.5.3-8.1 openSUSE-SU-2026:11623-1
openSUSE Leap 16.0 openssl-3 3.5.0-160000.10.1 openSUSE-SU-2026:21744-1
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Alpine v3.24 openssl 3.5.8-r0 —
Alpine v3.23 openssl 3.5.8-r0 —
Alpine v3.22 openssl 3.5.8-r0 —

Amazon Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Amazon Linux 2023 openssl +5 1:3.5.8-1.amzn2023.0.1 ALAS2023-2026-2136

Wolfi

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Wolfi rolling openssl-4.0 +2 4.0.2-r0 —

Advisories 18

References