CVE-2023-50247 | h2o QUIC state exhaustion DoS

h2o is an HTTP server with support for HTTP/1.x, HTTP/2 and HTTP/3. The QUIC stack (quicly), as used by H2O up to commit 43f86e5 (in version 2.3.0-beta and prior), is susceptible to a state exhaustion attack. When H2O is serving HTTP/3, a remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability to progressively increase the memory retained by the QUIC stack. This can eventually cause H2O to abort due to memory exhaustion. The vulnerability has been resolved in commit d67e81d03be12a9d53dc8271af6530f40164cd35. HTTP/1 and HTTP/2 are not affected by this vulnerability as they do not use QUIC. Administrators looking to mitigate this issue without upgrading can disable HTTP/3 support.

Published: 2023-12-12 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-50247 is rated Low Risk (37.8/100): CVSS Low severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.62%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-50247

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-03-30 1.21% 0.62% -0.59%
2 2025-03-29 0.62% 1.21% +0.59%
3 2025-03-17 — 0.62% —

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-50247

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
3.7 3.1 LOW
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 2.2 1.4 [email protected]
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-50247

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-50247

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2023-50247: 1 source package rows (h2o); 3 state rows across 2 repos (3.19-community, edge-community); fixed 0, open 3. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-50247
debian unimportant CVE-2023-50247 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (h2o), 2 status rows across 2 suites (bookworm, bullseye): resolved 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-50247

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-50247

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
dena h2o <= 2.2.6 cpe:2.3:a:dena:h2o:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
dena h2o 2.3.0 cpe:2.3:a:dena:h2o:2.3.0:beta1:*:*:*:*:*:*
dena h2o 2.3.0 cpe:2.3:a:dena:h2o:2.3.0:beta2:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-50247

cvelogic Threat Intelligence