Description
Issue summary: OpenSSL QUIC stack does not enforce connection
level flow control for streams. Remote peers may send more bytes
as long as they fit within the stream flow control limits.
Impact summary: A malicious remote peer may exploit the lack of connection
flow control for streams to make the QUIC stack receive ~100MB of memory
instead of 768 KiB (default flow control window size).
CWE: CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
Description: The local QUIC stack advertises two flow control limits
to its remote peer: stream flow control limit and connection flow
control limit. The remote peer must follow both limits when transmitting
stream data.
Whenever the local QUIC stack receives a stream frame, it validates
that the size of the received stream frame stays within flow control limits.
If either limit is exceeded (stream level or connection level), then
the QUIC stack must close the connection with a flow control error.
The vulnerable OpenSSL QUIC stack enforces the stream-level but not
the connection-level limit. To exploit the issue, three conditions must be met:
- the remote peer opens several streams
- each stream must stay within the stream-level flow control limit
- there must be no zero-offset byte sent on any of the streams
(to prevent the vulnerable QUIC stack from consuming data).
By meeting the conditions above, the remote peer may make the local stack
allocate 2 x MAX_STREAMS x (stream flow control limit) bytes
of memory. MAX_STREAMS defaults to 100, and the limit applies to both
bidirectional and unidirectional streams, making it 200 in total. The default
flow control window for a stream is 512kB. The remote peer may
force the vulnerable QUIC stack to allocate 100MB of heap per connection.
FIPS impact: no
The FIPS module is not affected as the QUIC implementation is outside of
the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenSSL | OpenSSL | 4.0.0 – < 4.0.3, 3.6.0 – < 3.6.5, 3.5.0 – < 3.5.9, 3.4.0 – < 3.4.8 | 4.0.3 |
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 | openssl | 3.6.5-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | openssl | 3.5.7-1~deb13u3 | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.10 | edk2 +1 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | edk2 +1 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | openssl | 3.5.5-1ubuntu3.6 | USN-8847-1 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | openssl | 3.0.13-0ubuntu3.16 | USN-8847-1 |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | openssl | 3.0.2-0ubuntu1.30 | USN-8847-1 |
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS | nodejs | No fix yet | — |
Red Hat
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Hardened Images 1 | openssl +10 | 3.5.9-0.1.hum1 | RHSA-2026:74166, RHSA-2026:74162 |
SUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLES 15 SP7 | openssl-3 | 3.5.0-150700.5.53.2 | SUSE-SU-2026:4414-1 |
Show 3 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLES for SAP 16.0 | openssl-3 | 3.5.0-160000.11.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:24245-1 |
| SLES 16.0 | openssl-3 | 3.5.0-160000.11.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:24245-1 |
| SLE Micro 6.2 | openssl-3 | 3.5.0-160000.11.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:24188-1 |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Leap 16.0 | openssl-3 | 3.5.0-160000.11.1 | openSUSE-SU-2026:22102-1 |
Alpine
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine v3.21 | openssl | 3.3.7-r2 | — |
Amazon Linux
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Linux 2023 | openssl +5 | 1:3.5.8-1.amzn2023.0.3 | ALAS2023-2026-3204 |
Azure Linux
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azure Linux 3 | openssl | 3.3.7-7 | — |
| Azure Linux 3 | rust +3 | No fix yet | — |
Wolfi
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfi rolling | openssl-4.0 +2 | 4.0.3-r0 | — |
Advisories 9
- WID-SEC-2026-3638 OpenSSL: Mehrere Schwachstellen BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · Nov 12, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2026:24245-1 Security update for openssl-3 SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Oct 21, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2026:24188-1 Security update for openssl-3 SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Oct 20, 2026
- RHSA-2026:74162 Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Oct 20, 2026
- RHSA-2026:74166 Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Oct 20, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2026:22102-1 Security update for openssl-3 SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Oct 19, 2026
- ALAS2023-2026-3204 Important: openssl security update (Amazon Linux 2023) Amazon Linux Security Center (ALAS) · Oct 12, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2026:4414-1 Security update for openssl-3 SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Oct 2, 2026
- USN-8847-1 openssl vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Oct 2, 2026
References
- OpenSSL Advisory vendor-advisory
- 4.0.3 git commit patch
- 3.6.5 git commit patch
- 3.5.9 git commit patch
- 3.4.8 git commit patch