CVE-2025-14969 identifies a resource management vulnerability in the Red Hat build of Quarkus version 3.27.2, specifically within the Hibernate Reactive component. Hibernate Reactive facilitates asynchronous database operations over HTTP endpoints. The vulnerability occurs when a remote client initiates a database operation via an HTTP endpoint but then prematurely closes the HTTP connection before the operation completes. This premature termination prevents the proper release of database connections back to the connection pool, causing these connections to leak. Over time, leaked connections accumulate, exhausting the pool and preventing new database operations from acquiring connections. This leads to a Denial of Service (DoS) scenario where the application becomes unresponsive or fails to process further requests. The CVSS 3.1 score of 4.3 reflects a medium severity, with the vector indicating network attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), requiring low privileges (PR:L), no user interaction (UI:N), unchanged scope (S:U), no impact on confidentiality or integrity (C:N/I:N), and limited impact on availability (A:L). No known exploits have been reported, but the vulnerability poses a risk to service availability in environments using the affected Quarkus build. The issue highlights the importance of robust resource management in asynchronous reactive frameworks and the need for defensive programming to handle unexpected client behavior.

For European organizations, this vulnerability can lead to service outages or degraded performance in applications relying on Red Hat Quarkus 3.27.2 with Hibernate Reactive for database interactions. The exhaustion of database connections can halt critical business processes, impacting availability and potentially causing financial and reputational damage. Industries with high transaction volumes or real-time data processing, such as finance, telecommunications, and e-commerce, are particularly vulnerable. The medium severity rating suggests that while the vulnerability is not easily exploitable for data theft or integrity compromise, the availability impact can disrupt operations. Organizations using cloud or on-premises deployments of Red Hat Quarkus should be vigilant, as the vulnerability can be triggered remotely without user interaction, increasing the risk of automated or scripted attacks. The lack of known exploits provides a window for proactive mitigation before widespread exploitation occurs.

1. Monitor database connection pools actively to detect abnormal connection usage or leaks. 2. Implement timeout and retry mechanisms in the application to recover leaked connections or reset the pool when thresholds are exceeded. 3. Apply patches or updates from Red Hat as soon as they become available for Quarkus 3.27.2 or later versions addressing this issue. 4. Harden HTTP endpoints by validating client behavior and implementing rate limiting to reduce the risk of premature connection closures. 5. Employ circuit breakers or fallback strategies in the application to maintain service availability during connection pool exhaustion. 6. Conduct thorough testing of asynchronous database operations to ensure proper resource cleanup even under unexpected client disconnections. 7. Consider upgrading to newer Quarkus versions with improved resource management if patching is delayed. 8. Review and harden network perimeter defenses to limit exposure of vulnerable endpoints to untrusted clients.