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UnratedApache Software Foundation

CVE-2026-78058: Apache bRPC: Unbounded Resource Consumption and Crash in the HTTP/2 Receive Path

This Apache advisory covers CVE-2026-78058 in Apache bRPC.

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Key facts

CISA KEV
Not listed (catalogue checked )
Affected
Apache bRPC before 1.18.0
Fixed in
1.18.0
Source published
Source revised
Listed by VulniPulse
Record changed

Compiled by VulniPulse from the linked sources. How records are collected and checked.

Affected products & platforms

Apache Software FoundationUnclassified

Description

Uncontrolled resource consumption in the HTTP/2 (h2) receive path of Apache bRPC (version < 1.18.0) on all platforms allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to crash the server or grow its memory without bound by sending crafted HTTP/2 frames.

Root Cause: The h2 parser, enabled by default on every bRPC server port and used by h2/gRPC clients, trusts the peer to respect receive-side limits that bRPC advertises but never enforces:

1. SETTINGS_MAX_CONCURRENT_STREAMS defaulted to unlimited and was never checked on the server, letting a peer pin an unbounded number of pending streams per connection (~100x memory amplification).

2. SETTINGS_MAX_HEADER_LIST_SIZE defaulted to unlimited and was never enforced; 1-byte HPACK indexed references amplify a small HEADERS frame ~4000x into an unbounded decoded header list ("HPACK bomb"), and a never-completed HEADERS/CONTINUATION block accumulates memory without limit.

3. Control-frame acks (PING/SETTINGS acks, RST_STREAM, GOAWAY, WINDOW_UPDATE) unconditionally bypassed the -socket_max_unwritten_bytes write cap, so a PING flood combined with withheld TCP reads grew the connection buffer without the documented bound.

4.

Text from the source record.

Affected versions
  • Apache bRPC before 1.18.0

Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched ·verify at source

How to fix CVE-2026-78058

Upgrade to a fixed release named by Apache:

  • 1.18.0

Vendor guidance

  • The HPACK dynamic table size update was validated against the protocol default (4096) instead of the advertised SETTINGS_HEADER_TABLE_SIZE, which together with the dynamic-table queue/accounting issue can desynchronize the decoder and dereference NULL (crash).
  • How to fix: Upgrade bRPC, or apply the patch in https://github.com/apache/brpc/pull/3474.

Workarounds

  • byte HPACK indexed references amplify a small HEADERS frame ~4000x into an unbounded decoded header list ("HPACK bomb"), and a never-completed HEADERS/CONTINUATION block accumulates memory without limit.

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