High severity · published Jul 21, 2026
CVE-2026-55851
Netty codec-haproxy: Signed-Byte Sentinel Collision in HAProxyMessageDecoder Leads to Unbounded Memory Exhaustion
7.5
CVSS
0.6%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
Netty is a network application framework for development of protocol servers and clients. In versions 4.2.0.Final up to (but not including) 4.2.16.Final, and 4.1.0.Final up to (but not including) 4.1.135, the `HAProxyMessageDecoder` in Netty's `codec-haproxy` module performs protocol version detection by reading the 13th byte as a signed Java `byte` and widening it to `int` without masking; a PROXY protocol v2 binary prefix followed by version byte `0xFF` sign-extends to `-1`, collides with the decoder's need-more-data sentinel, and causes `ByteToMessageDecoder` to accumulate inbound bytes in an unbounded `cumulation` buffer until direct memory is exhausted. This issue is fixed in versions 4.1.136.Final and 4.2.16.Final.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.6% · higher than 50% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
NE
netty · netty
>= 4.2.0.Final, < 4.2.16.Final; >= 4.1.0.Final, < 4.1.136.Final · source: vendor, NVD
Affected product
NE
netty
netty
More from netty
7.5
CVE-2023-44487
HTTP/2 Rapid Reset Attack Vulnerability
10.0
CVE-2026-47691
Netty has Insufficient Bailiwick Validation for NS Records
10.0
CVE-2026-45674
Netty Vulnerable to DNS Cache Poisoning via Missing Bailiwick Checks in CNAME Records
9.8
CVE-2026-56817
Netty: XML External Entity (XXE) injection via unconfigured XML factory when DTD and entity processing are enabled
9.8
CVE-2026-42581
Netty: HTTP/1.0 TE+CL Coexistence Bypasses Smuggling Sanitization