Skip to main content
Report · Reddit BlueTeamAbout CVE-2026-111497Published

WOFF2SHELL: Is Brotli 0-day (CVE-2026-111497) a bidirectional nuke hiding in web fonts?

Source Reddit BlueTeam

0
Authoritative record:CVE-2026-111497· Critical 9.2

Not known to be exploited · 36% EPSS · CVSS 9.2 Critical · fixed in 1.2.1 : patch Brotli as a priority.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score
9.2Critical
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
36.0% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 98% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch
Available – fixed in 1.2.1, 1.1.1, 1.0.10
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 22 Oct 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq 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 Brotli and github.com/google/brotli to 1.2.1, 1.1.1 or 1.0.10.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
Brotligithub.com/google/brotliAffected
  • >=1.2.0 <1.2.1
Fixed in
  • 1.2.1
Brotligithub.com/google/brotliAffected
  • >=1.1.0 <1.1.1
Fixed in
  • 1.1.1
Brotligithub.com/google/brotliAffected
  • >=1.0.3 <1.0.10
Fixed in
  • 1.0.10
GitHubgithub.com/google/brotlipkg:github/github.com/google/brotliOther threatsAffected
  • >=1.0.3 <1.0.10
  • >=1.1.0 <1.1.1
  • >=1.2.0 <1.2.1
Fixed in
  • 1.0.10
  • 1.1.1
  • 1.2.1

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

AI-suggested

A fix has been proposed in the woff2 project (PR #208) to address the vulnerability in the embedded Brotli decoder. Until official patches are released and deployed, users should configure HTTP gateways and middleware to treat WOFF2 font files as binary media types to avoid automatic decompression attempts. For example, in AWS API Gateway, explicitly whitelist font media types as binary to prevent decoding errors. Monitor the woff2 project and related dependencies for official patches and apply them promptly once available.

Discussion

CVE-2026-111497 is a zero-day vulnerability in the Brotli compression library used by the WOFF2 font format. The vulnerability affects the Brotli 1.0.3 decoder embedded in the woff2 project. This flaw can cause Unicode decode errors when middleware or firewalls attempt to process WOFF2 font files, potentially leading to service crashes on both client and server sides. The issue arises because some HTTP gateways and middleware try to decompress WOFF2 font files using Brotli, which is vulnerable, resulting in a bidirectional denial-of-service scenario. Millions of malicious WOFF2 files exploiting this vulnerability may exist in cloud storage, waiting to be requested.

r/AskNetsec (opens in a new tab)u/Then-Programmer72210 points0 comments

https://github.com/Kludex/mangum/issues/160

I believe I may have found proof that WOFF2 is vulnerable to the Brotli zero-day, and the entire industry is looking the wrong way. Can someone please tell me I'm crazy?

We are busy patching Node.js and Python HTTP servers, but a site tracking bundled decoders called Broccoli2Shell published a table on October 24th. It lists projects that hardcoded their own private copies of the vulnerable Brotli C decoder:

  • Project: woff2 (Makefile build)
  • Bundled Copy: Brotli 1.0.3 (Critically vulnerable)
  • Input it decodes: WOFF2 fonts passed to woff2_decompress
  • Status: "Tracked in issue #207. A fix has been proposed in PR #208."

The maintainers of the font-compression library know it's vulnerable, but because it’s a C-library issue and not a flashy web-server exploit, it isn't making headlines.

Why this takes down servers too:
You might think, "Fonts are a client-side problem." Look at Kludex/mangum Issue #160: issue in reading .woff/.ttf/.woff2.

It throws a Unicode decode error. So what?

So what? It means your middleware touches the file. If you don't explicitly whitelist the media type in AWS API Gateway, the gateway tries to unpack the WOFF2 file to read the body. And what algorithm does WOFF2 use to compress its data? Brotli.

If your firewall/middleware checks the file, the firewall dies. If the firewall ignores the file, it passes to the client... and the client dies. It's a bidirectional nuke. And right now, there are millions of malicious WOFF2 files sitting in AWS buckets, just waiting for someone to request them.

Links cited in the discussion

References

Community reviews

Loading reviews…