CVE-2026-21438VulnerabilityPublished 12 Feb 2026Updated 17 Feb 2026

CVE-2026-21438: quic-go webtransport-go · Memory Leak

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 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 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 35% 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 2026-10-25.

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 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

The most effective mitigation is to upgrade all instances of webtransport-go to version 0.10.0 or later, where the vulnerability is fixed. For organizations unable to upgrade immediately, implementing resource limits on memory usage per session or stream can help contain the impact. Monitoring tools should be configured to detect abnormal memory growth patterns indicative of exploitation attempts. Network-level protections such as rate limiting or filtering suspicious traffic patterns targeting WebTransport endpoints can reduce exposure. Additionally, applying application-layer controls to limit the number of streams created per client or session can prevent abuse. Regularly auditing dependencies and maintaining an up-to-date inventory of software versions will facilitate timely patching. Finally, incorporating fuzz testing and memory profiling in development cycles can help identify similar issues proactively.

Description

webtransport-go is an implementation of the WebTransport protocol. Prior to 0.10.0, an attacker can cause unbounded memory consumption repeatedly creating and closing many WebTransport streams. Closed streams were not removed from an internal session map, preventing garbage collection of their resources. This vulnerability is fixed in v0.10.0.

Impact

The primary impact of this vulnerability is a denial of service (DoS) through unbounded memory consumption. Attackers can exploit this flaw remotely without authentication or user interaction, making it relatively easy to trigger. Organizations running services that utilize vulnerable versions of webtransport-go may experience degraded performance or crashes due to memory exhaustion, potentially disrupting critical communications or applications relying on WebTransport. This can affect service availability and reliability, leading to operational downtime and potential financial losses. While the vulnerability does not expose sensitive data or allow unauthorized data modification, the disruption of service can have cascading effects, especially in environments where WebTransport is used for real-time or critical data transport. The lack of known exploits in the wild currently reduces immediate risk, but the ease of exploitation and medium severity score warrant prompt mitigation.

CWE-401Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessLikelihood of exploit: Medium
The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, making the memory unavailable for reallocation and reuse.
Implementation · Libraries or Frameworks
Choose a language or tool that provides automatic memory management, or makes manual memory management less error-prone.
Architecture and Design
Use an abstraction library to abstract away risky APIs. Not a complete solution.
Architecture and Design · Build and Compilation
Consider using the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage collector (bdwgc), which can help avoid leaks.
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).
CWE-459Incomplete Cleanup (opens in a new tab)
Base weakness
The product does not properly "clean up" and remove temporary or supporting resources after they have been used.
Architecture and Design · Implementation
Temporary files and other supporting resources should be deleted/released immediately after they are no longer needed.
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 20 Feb 2026, 08:22 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-401, CWE-459

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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