CVE-2026-15972: CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in HashiCorp Consul
HashiCorp Consul versions 1.13.0 through 2.0.2 are vulnerable to an unauthenticated denial of service attack via unbounded connection acceptance on external gRPC listeners. An attacker can exhaust system resources such as file descriptors, goroutines, and memory by opening many incomplete connections, potentially disrupting legitimate client connections. This vulnerability is fixed in Consul 2.0.3 and later versions, including specific enterprise releases.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
CVE-2026-15972 is a resource exhaustion vulnerability in HashiCorp Consul Community Edition and Enterprise versions 1.13.0 through 2.0.2. The flaw allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to cause a denial of service by opening numerous incomplete connections to the external gRPC listeners, leading to exhaustion of agent file descriptors, goroutines, and memory. This prevents legitimate clients from connecting to the Consul agent. The vulnerability is addressed in Consul 2.0.3 and Enterprise versions 1.21.17, 1.22.11, and 2.0.3.
Potential Impact
Successful exploitation results in denial of service by exhausting critical system resources on the Consul agent, causing service disruption and preventing legitimate client connections. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity, only availability is affected.
Mitigation Recommendations
A fix is available. Users should upgrade to Consul version 2.0.3 or later, or the corresponding fixed Enterprise versions 1.21.17, 1.22.11, or 2.0.3 to remediate this vulnerability.
CVE-2026-15972: CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in HashiCorp Consul
Description
HashiCorp Consul versions 1.13.0 through 2.0.2 are vulnerable to an unauthenticated denial of service attack via unbounded connection acceptance on external gRPC listeners. An attacker can exhaust system resources such as file descriptors, goroutines, and memory by opening many incomplete connections, potentially disrupting legitimate client connections. This vulnerability is fixed in Consul 2.0.3 and later versions, including specific enterprise releases.
CVSS v3.1
Score 7.5high
Affected software
pkg:github/Consul EnterpriseRun on your own infrastructure? Check whether these packages are installed with threat-finder — our free open-source scanner.
Weaknesses
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
CVE-2026-15972 is a resource exhaustion vulnerability in HashiCorp Consul Community Edition and Enterprise versions 1.13.0 through 2.0.2. The flaw allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to cause a denial of service by opening numerous incomplete connections to the external gRPC listeners, leading to exhaustion of agent file descriptors, goroutines, and memory. This prevents legitimate clients from connecting to the Consul agent. The vulnerability is addressed in Consul 2.0.3 and Enterprise versions 1.21.17, 1.22.11, and 2.0.3.
Potential Impact
Successful exploitation results in denial of service by exhausting critical system resources on the Consul agent, causing service disruption and preventing legitimate client connections. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity, only availability is affected.
Mitigation Recommendations
A fix is available. Users should upgrade to Consul version 2.0.3 or later, or the corresponding fixed Enterprise versions 1.21.17, 1.22.11, or 2.0.3 to remediate this vulnerability.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- HashiCorp
- Date Reserved
- 2026-07-16T15:32:34.132Z
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Remediation Level
- null
Threat ID: 6a763509bf8831d5390b0144
Added to database: 08/07/2026, 19:42:01 UTC
Last enriched: 08/07/2026, 19:56:29 UTC
Last updated: 08/07/2026, 20:23:43 UTC
Views: 3
Community Reviews
0 reviewsCrowdsource mitigation strategies, share intel context, and vote on the most helpful responses. Sign in to add your voice and help keep defenders ahead.
Want to contribute mitigation steps or threat intel context? Sign in or create an account to join the community discussion.
Actions
Updates to AI analysis require Pro Console access. Upgrade inside Console → Billing.
External Links
Need more coverage?
Upgrade to Pro Console for AI refresh and higher limits.
For incident response and remediation, OffSeq services can help resolve threats faster.
Latest Threats
Check if your credentials are on the dark web
Instant breach scanning across billions of leaked records. Free tier available.