CVE-2026-105297: Pingora HTTP/2 server memory exhaustion through unbounded default header-list and concurrent-stream limits
Description
Summary Before version 0.8.1, Pingora's HTTP/2 server used the h2 crate's default limits unless the application set its own 16 MiB decoded header-list size and no limit on concurrent streams. A remote, unauthenticated client can send 1-byte HPACK references to a near-empty header, making the server allocate hundreds of thousands of header fields per stream across an unlimited number of streams on one connection, and use HTTP/2 flow control to keep those streams open. This can exhaust memory and degrade or terminate the Pingora process. Impact Remote, unauthenticated denial of service against any Pingora service that terminates HTTP/2 (h2 or h2c) without explicitly setting max_header_list_size and max_concurrent_streams. The reporter showed that a single connection could get a Pingora process with a 2 GiB memory limit OOM-killed. Note that Cloudflare CDN customers were unaffected, as internal Pingora services at Cloudflare do not have HTTP/2 clients. Mitigation: * Upgrade to pingora 0.8.1 or later (fix: https://github.com/cloudflare/pingora/commit/d193c8d49b8b7c1c1ede93183759caa4f6906bbd ). When no H2Options are supplied, Pingora now advertises and enforces a 64 KiB decoded header-list limit and at most 100 concurrent streams per connection. * Applications that supply their own H2Options are not covered by these defaults and must set max_header_list_size and max_concurrent_streams explicitly (this also works on versions before 0.8.1), or, on 0.8.1 and later, start from pingora_core::protocols::http::v2::server::default_h2_options(). H2Options::default() does not include these limits.
Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H · CWE-770
Tracked companies
Mapped from the CVE’s affected-product data, NVD CPE matches, vendor advisories or package feeds. A mapping means the vendor’s software is named, not that its hosted service was exposed.
Status incidents that name it
No tracked status incident names this CVE.
Affected vendors and products
Cloudflare: https://github.com/cloudflare/pingora
References
- CVE record on cve.org (opens in new tab)
- NVD entry (opens in new tab)
- github.com/cloudflare/pingora (opens in new tab)
- CVE records from the CVE Program (cve.org). CVE® is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation. (opens in new tab)
- This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. (opens in new tab)
- Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog from CISA. (opens in new tab)
- EPSS scores from FIRST (Exploit Prediction Scoring System). (opens in new tab)