VulnerabilityPublished 27 Jan 2026

CVE-2026-22261: OISF suricata · Excessive Platform Resource Consumption within a Loop

Affects OISF suricataSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 3.7 Low : upgrade to 8.0.3 or 7.0.14 when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 10:12 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

3.7Low

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

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 30% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 8.0.3, 7.0.14

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: High
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: High: A successful attack depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control. That is, a successful attack cannot be accomplished at will, but requires the attacker to invest in some measurable amount of effort in preparation or execution against the vulnerable component before a successful attack can be expected. For example, a successful attack may require an attacker to: gather knowledge about the environment in which the vulnerable target/component exists; prepare the target environment to improve exploit reliability; or inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim in order to read and/or modify network communications (e.g., a man in the middle attack).
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 27 Jan 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 suricata to 8.0.3 or 7.0.14; oisf/suricata to 7.0.14.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
OISFsuricata	Affected >=8.0.0 <8.0.3	Fixed in 8.0.3
OISFsuricata	Affected <7.0.14	Fixed in 7.0.14
GitHuboisf/suricata`pkg:github/oisf/suricata`Other threats	Affected <7.0.14	Fixed in 7.0.14

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

Upgrade Suricata installations to version 7.0.14 or 8.0.3 and later, where the vulnerability has been patched.
As an immediate workaround, disable XFF support in the eve logging configuration to prevent triggering the inefficient loop, noting that this setting is disabled by default and may impact logging granularity.
Monitor Suricata performance metrics closely to detect unusual slowdowns or resource consumption spikes that may indicate exploitation or related issues.
Review network traffic patterns to identify and limit malformed or suspicious XFF headers that could exacerbate the vulnerability.
Incorporate Suricata version checks into vulnerability management and patching schedules to ensure timely updates.
Educate network security teams about the vulnerability and its impact on IDS/IPS performance to prioritize remediation efforts.
Consider deploying additional or alternative network monitoring tools temporarily if Suricata performance degradation impacts critical operations.
Maintain up-to-date backups and incident response plans to address any potential cascading effects from reduced network visibility.

Description

Suricata is a network IDS, IPS and NSM engine. Prior to versions 8.0.3 and 7.0.14, various inefficiencies in xff handling, especially for alerts not triggered in a tx, can lead to severe slowdowns. Versions 8.0.3 and 7.0.14 contain a patch. As a workaround, disable XFF support in the eve configuration. The setting is disabled by default.

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2026-22261 is on the availability and performance of network security monitoring infrastructure. Suricata is widely used in enterprise, government, and critical infrastructure environments for intrusion detection and prevention. Severe slowdowns caused by this vulnerability can delay or reduce the effectiveness of threat detection, increasing the risk of undetected intrusions or delayed incident response. This is particularly critical for sectors with stringent security requirements such as finance, energy, telecommunications, and public administration. While the vulnerability does not compromise data confidentiality or integrity, degraded IDS/IPS performance can indirectly increase exposure to other threats. European organizations relying on Suricata in high-throughput environments may experience network monitoring bottlenecks, potentially impacting compliance with regulatory frameworks like GDPR and NIS Directive that mandate robust cybersecurity measures. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate risk, but the potential for performance degradation warrants timely remediation to maintain operational security posture.

CWE-1050Excessive Platform Resource Consumption within a Loop (opens in a new tab)
Base weakness
The product has a loop body or loop condition that contains a control element that directly or indirectly consumes platform resources, e.g. messaging, sessions, locks, or file descriptors.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
File Upload (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V12.1.1 (opens in a new tab)
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 27 Jan 2026, 18:35 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-1050

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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