CVE-2026-59248
Unbounded HPACK/QPACK prefixed-integer decoding in Cowlib causes memory-exhaustion DoS
Description
Allocation of resources without limits vulnerability in ninenines cowlib allows an unauthenticated remote HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 peer to exhaust memory on the vulnerable server (or client) and cause a denial of service. The HPACK and QPACK prefixed-integer decoder cow_hpack_common:dec_big_int/3 in src/cow_hpack_common.hrl (invoked from cow_hpack:decode/2 in src/cow_hpack.erl and from cow_qpack:decode_field_section/3 in src/cow_qpack.erl) reads continuation octets until it sees one whose high bit is clear, evaluating Int + (Value bsl M) at each step with the shift M growing by seven per octet. No limit is enforced on the number of continuation octets, on the resulting bit width, or on the value; the decoder consumes whatever encoded length the peer supplies. Because Erlang integers are immutable, each intermediate Value bsl M and each accumulator update allocates a fresh bignum whose digit width grows linearly with the number of octets processed so far. Summed across the whole decode, the transient bignum digit materialization is on the order of the square of the encoded length. A single maximal HPACK indexed representation carried inside one HTTP/2 HEADERS plus one CONTINUATION frame at Cowboy's default max_frame_size_received can force hundreds of megabytes of transient allocation and garbage-collection churn before the resulting header-table index is rejected as invalid. Repeated or concurrent connections multiply the pressure and can drive the Erlang VM to memory exhaustion. Cowlib is the HTTP parser used by Cowboy, RabbitMQ's management plugin, and other Erlang and Elixir HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 servers and clients, so any exposed endpoint that accepts HPACK or QPACK from an untrusted peer is reachable. This issue affects cowlib: from 2.0.0 before 2.19.0.
INFO
Published Date :
July 28, 2026, 10:16 a.m.
Last Modified :
July 28, 2026, 1:18 p.m.
Remotely Exploit :
Yes !
Source :
6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
CVSS Scores
| Score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability Score | Impact Score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS | 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 | |||||
| CVSS 4.0 | HIGH | 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db | ||||
| CVSS 4.0 | HIGH | 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db |
Solution
- Update cowlib to a non-vulnerable version.
- Apply the latest patches for affected software.
- Monitor system memory usage after updates.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth
information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to
CVE-2026-59248.
| URL | Resource |
|---|---|
| https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-59248.html | |
| https://github.com/ninenines/cowlib/commit/f582430498072a0c65ad338030321576dc13a343 | |
| https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-59248 |
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-59248 is
associated with the following CWEs:
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification
(CAPEC)
stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and
approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-59248
weaknesses.
We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).
Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.
The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2026-59248 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2026-59248 vulnerability over time.
Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.
-
CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
Jul. 28, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added SSVC {'id': 'CVE-2026-59248', 'role': 'CISA Coordinator', 'options': [{'exploitation': 'none'}, {'automatable': 'yes'}, {'technicalImpact': 'partial'}], 'version': '2.0.3', 'timestamp': '2026-07-28T12:39:48.662716Z'} -
New CVE Received by 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
Jul. 28, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Affected [{'cpes': ['cpe:2.3:a:ninenines:cowlib:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*'], 'repo': 'https://github.com/ninenines/cowlib', 'vendor': 'ninenines', 'modules': ['cow_hpack', 'cow_qpack'], 'product': 'cowlib', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '2.0.0-pre.1', 'lessThan': '2.19.0', 'versionType': 'semver'}], 'packageURL': 'pkg:hex/cowlib', 'packageName': 'cowlib', 'programFiles': ['src/cow_hpack_common.hrl', 'src/cow_hpack.erl', 'src/cow_qpack.erl'], 'collectionURL': 'https://repo.hex.pm', 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected', 'programRoutines': [{'name': 'cow_hpack:decode/2'}, {'name': 'cow_qpack:decode_field_section/3'}]}, {'cpes': ['cpe:2.3:a:ninenines:cowlib:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*'], 'repo': 'https://github.com/ninenines/cowlib', 'vendor': 'ninenines', 'modules': ['cow_hpack', 'cow_qpack'], 'product': 'cowlib', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '5ddecbc121f812aec53d9df91829448d8e94e44c', 'lessThan': 'f582430498072a0c65ad338030321576dc13a343', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'packageURL': 'pkg:github/ninenines/cowlib', 'packageName': 'ninenines/cowlib', 'programFiles': ['src/cow_hpack_common.hrl', 'src/cow_hpack.erl', 'src/cow_qpack.erl'], 'collectionURL': 'https://github.com', 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected', 'programRoutines': [{'name': 'cow_hpack:decode/2'}, {'name': 'cow_qpack:decode_field_section/3'}]}] Added Description Allocation of resources without limits vulnerability in ninenines cowlib allows an unauthenticated remote HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 peer to exhaust memory on the vulnerable server (or client) and cause a denial of service. The HPACK and QPACK prefixed-integer decoder cow_hpack_common:dec_big_int/3 in src/cow_hpack_common.hrl (invoked from cow_hpack:decode/2 in src/cow_hpack.erl and from cow_qpack:decode_field_section/3 in src/cow_qpack.erl) reads continuation octets until it sees one whose high bit is clear, evaluating Int + (Value bsl M) at each step with the shift M growing by seven per octet. No limit is enforced on the number of continuation octets, on the resulting bit width, or on the value; the decoder consumes whatever encoded length the peer supplies. Because Erlang integers are immutable, each intermediate Value bsl M and each accumulator update allocates a fresh bignum whose digit width grows linearly with the number of octets processed so far. Summed across the whole decode, the transient bignum digit materialization is on the order of the square of the encoded length. A single maximal HPACK indexed representation carried inside one HTTP/2 HEADERS plus one CONTINUATION frame at Cowboy's default max_frame_size_received can force hundreds of megabytes of transient allocation and garbage-collection churn before the resulting header-table index is rejected as invalid. Repeated or concurrent connections multiply the pressure and can drive the Erlang VM to memory exhaustion. Cowlib is the HTTP parser used by Cowboy, RabbitMQ's management plugin, and other Erlang and Elixir HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 servers and clients, so any exposed endpoint that accepts HPACK or QPACK from an untrusted peer is reachable. This issue affects cowlib: from 2.0.0 before 2.19.0. Added CVSS V4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X Added CWE CWE-770 Added Reference https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-59248.html Added Reference https://github.com/ninenines/cowlib/commit/f582430498072a0c65ad338030321576dc13a343 Added Reference https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-59248