Medium severity · published Jul 21, 2026
CVE-2026-16318
QUIC Transport Parameters Memory Leak During HelloRetryRequest in s2n-tls
5.3
CVSS
0.5%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
The QUIC transport parameters extension handler in s2n-tls incorrectly uses s2n_alloc instead of s2n_realloc to store the peer's transport parameters. When a TLS 1.3 connection goes through a HelloRetryRequest, the handler is called twice on the same connection. On the second call, s2n_alloc zeroes the existing pointer before allocating new memory, causing the first allocation to be leaked. This can occur during normal QUIC traffic when a client offers a key share group the server does not prefer. An unauthenticated user can amplify the issue by deliberately forcing HelloRetryRequests, causing up to approximately 64 KB of unreachable memory per handshake. Over time, this can lead to increased memory consumption on long-running server processes. The unreachable memory is only reclaimed when the process is restarted. Only server-side QUIC-enabled deployments are affected. Non-QUIC TLS connections are not affected. We recommend you upgrade s2n-tls to version v1.7.6
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Low
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.5% · higher than 45% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
S2
s2n-tls · Amazon
through v1.7.5 · source: vendor