CVE-2026-1526 | undici is vulnerable to Unbounded Memory Consumption in undici WebSocket permessage-deflate Decompression

The undici WebSocket client is vulnerable to a denial-of-service attack via unbounded memory consumption during permessage-deflate decompression. When a WebSocket connection negotiates the permessage-deflate extension, the client decompresses incoming compressed frames without enforcing any limit on the decompressed data size. A malicious WebSocket server can send a small compressed frame (a "decompression bomb") that expands to an extremely large size in memory, causing the Node.js process to exhaust available memory and crash or become unresponsive. The vulnerability exists in the PerMessageDeflate.decompress() method, which accumulates all decompressed chunks in memory and concatenates them into a single Buffer without checking whether the total size exceeds a safe threshold.

Published: 2026-03-12 Last update: 2026-03-20 Assigner: ce714d77-add3-4f53-aff5-83d477b104bb Source: ce714d77-add3-4f53-aff5-83d477b104bb

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-1526 is rated Low Risk (31.6/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). Mandatory action: 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-2026-1526

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 2026-03-21 0.05% 0.02% -0.03%
2 2026-03-17 0.04% 0.05% +0.01%
3 2026-03-13 0.04%

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-1526

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
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 ce714d77-add3-4f53-aff5-83d477b104bb

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-1526

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-1526

GHSA-vrm6-8vpv-qv8q · Severity: high · Ecosystem: npm — Undici has Unbounded Memory Consumption in WebSocket permessage-deflate Decompression

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-1526

vendor priority summary link
alpine CVE-2026-1526: 1 source package rows (nodejs); 10 state rows across 5 repos (3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 0, open 10. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2026-1526
debian unimportant CVE-2026-1526 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (node-undici), 4 status rows across 4 suites (bookworm, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 3, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-1526
redhat high https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-1526
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-1526 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (node-undici), 4 status rows across 4 suites (jammy, noble, questing, upstream): needs-triage 3, DNE 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-1526

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-1526

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
nodejs undici < 6.24.0 cpe:2.3:a:nodejs:undici:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:*
nodejs undici >= 7.0.0, < 7.24.0 cpe:2.3:a:nodejs:undici:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:*

References for CVE-2026-1526

cvelogic Threat Intelligence