VulnerabilityPublished 12 Feb 2026

CVE-2026-21434: quic-go webtransport-go · Unthrottled Resource Allocation

Affects quic-go webtransport-goSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.3 Medium : upgrade to 0.10.0 when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.3Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 40% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 0.10.0

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: Low

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 12 Feb 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade quic-go webtransport-go to 0.10.0.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
quic-gowebtransport-go	Affected <0.10.0	Fixed in 0.10.0

AI-suggested

European organizations should immediately upgrade all instances of webtransport-go to version 0.10.0 or later, where the vulnerability is fixed by enforcing the 1024-byte limit on the Application Error Message field. Until upgrades can be applied, network-level mitigations should be implemented, such as rate limiting and deep packet inspection to detect and block unusually large WT_CLOSE_SESSION capsules or abnormal WebTransport traffic patterns. Deploying Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) or Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) with custom rules to identify and drop oversized payloads can reduce attack surface. Monitoring memory usage and establishing alerting for abnormal resource consumption on servers running webtransport-go is recommended to detect potential exploitation attempts early. Additionally, organizations should review their exposure of WebTransport services to untrusted networks and consider restricting access where feasible. Regular vulnerability scanning and patch management processes should be enforced to prevent exploitation of this and similar vulnerabilities.

Description

webtransport-go is an implementation of the WebTransport protocol. From 0.3.0 to 0.9.0, an attacker can cause excessive memory consumption in webtransport-go's session implementation by sending a WT_CLOSE_SESSION capsule containing an excessively large Application Error Message. The implementation does not enforce the draft-mandated limit of 1024 bytes on this field, allowing a peer to send an arbitrarily large message payload that is fully read and stored in memory. This allows an attacker to consume an arbitrary amount of memory. The attacker must transmit the full payload to achieve the memory consumption, but the lack of any upper bound makes large-scale attacks feasible given sufficient bandwidth. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.10.0.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a risk of denial-of-service attacks against services relying on vulnerable versions of webtransport-go. Since WebTransport is designed for low-latency, multiplexed communication over QUIC, it may be used in real-time applications such as media streaming, remote collaboration, or IoT device communication. An attacker exploiting this flaw could cause service disruptions by exhausting server memory, leading to degraded performance or crashes. This can impact business continuity, user experience, and potentially lead to financial losses or reputational damage. Organizations in sectors with high reliance on real-time web communication, such as telecommunications, media, and critical infrastructure, may be particularly affected. Additionally, the lack of authentication or user interaction requirements lowers the barrier for attackers to exploit this remotely. However, the absence of known exploits and the medium CVSS score suggest the threat is moderate but should not be underestimated given the potential for large-scale attacks if bandwidth permits.

CWE-770Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #25
The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any intended restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated.
Requirements
Clearly specify the minimum and maximum expectations for capabilities, and dictate which behaviors are acceptable when resource allocation reaches limits.
Architecture and Design
Limit the amount of resources that are accessible to unprivileged users. Set per-user limits for resources. Allow the system administrator to define these limits. Be careful to avoid CWE-410.
Architecture and Design
Design throttling mechanisms into the system architecture. The best protection is to limit the amount of resources that an unauthorized user can cause to be expended.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.1 (opens in a new tab)
V11.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
XML Ping of the Death (opens in a new tab)
Exponential Data Expansion (opens in a new tab)
Serialized Data Parameter Blowup (opens in a new tab)
Serialized Data with Nested Payloads (opens in a new tab)
Oversized Serialized Data Payloads (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 12 Feb 2026, 18:49 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-770

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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