Pingora core: Pingora HTTP/2 server memory exhaustion through unbounded default header-list and concurrent-stream
Affects pingora-coreSource GCVE Database
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High : upgrade to 0.8.1 soon.
Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC
- EPSS
- 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 36% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
- Patch
- Available – fixed in 0.8.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 20 Oct 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.
What to do
Upgrade pingora-core to 0.8.1.
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
crates.iopingora-corepkg:cargo/pingora-coreOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in
|
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Description
Pingora versions prior to 0.8.1 used the h2 crate's default HTTP/2 server limits, a 16 MiB decoded header-list size and no limit on concurrent streams, unless the application set its own. A remote, unauthenticated client can send 1-byte HPACK references to a near-empty header, making the server allocate hundreds of thousands of header fields per stream across an unlimited number of streams on one connection, and use HTTP/2 flow control to keep those streams open. This can exhaust memory and degrade or terminate the Pingora process. This affects any Pingora service that terminates HTTP/2 (h2 or h2c) without explicitly setting `max_header_list_size` and `max_concurrent_streams`. The reporter showed that a single connection could get a Pingora process with a 2 GiB memory limit OOM-killed. This flaw was corrected in commit d193c8d49b8b7c1c1ede93183759caa4f6906bbd. When no `H2Options` are supplied, Pingora now advertises and enforces a 64 KiB decoded header-list limit and at most 100 concurrent streams per connection. Users should upgrade to Pingora >= 0.8.1. Applications that supply their own `H2Options` are not covered by these defaults and must set `max_header_list_size` and `max_concurrent_streams` explicitly, or start from `pingora_core::protocols::http::v2::server::default_h2_options()`. `H2Options::default()` does not include these limits. Note: Cloudflare CDN customers were unaffected, as internal Pingora services at Cloudflare do not have HTTP/2 clients.