CVE-2026-73550 — Envoy: HTTP/2 Discarded Host Header 200 GB Header-Copy OOM in Envoy
Envoy is an open source edge and service proxy designed for cloud-native applications. Prior to 1.36.10, 1.37.6, 1.38.4, and 1.39.1, Envoy copies every decoded HTTP/2 Host header value before discarding it when :authority is already present. The discarded value bypasses saveHeader, so its bytes and count are not charged against request header limits. An unauthenticated client can use HPACK indexing to submit many references to a large Host value across a bounded number of streams, forcing extreme header-copy allocation and causing the proxy to be out-of-memory killed. The relevant scope boundary is that the demonstrated amplification uses HTTP/2 HPACK and the duplicate Host discard behavior. This issue is fixed in versions 1.36.10, 1.37.6, 1.38.4, and 1.39.1.
Who exploits it and how urgent it is
A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.
How the score was calculated
- Technical severity (high)+6
- CISA SSVC: exploitation "poc"+5
- Automatable exploitation (SSVC)+3
The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).
Triage
Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.
CISA SSVC assessment CISA
Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.
Remediation
Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.
- Documented patch — github.com (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
- Documented patch — github.com (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
- Documented patch — github.com (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
- Documented patch — github.com (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
First 24 hours
Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.
- Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Envoyproxy Envoy).
- The attack is network-based and needs no privileges: restrict exposure (ACLs, VPN, WAF) until patched.
- Apply the fixed version or the patch documented under Remediation.
- Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (memory corruption), errors and authentication anomalies.
Affected scope
Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Envoyproxy | Envoy | < 1.36.10≥ 1.37.0 and < 1.37.6≥ 1.38.0 and < 1.38.4≥ 1.39.0 and < 1.39.1 | Vulnerable | NIST National Vulnerability Database |
| Envoyproxy | Envoy | version < 1.36.10version >= 1.37.0, < 1.37.6version >= 1.38.0, < 1.38.4version >= 1.39.0, < 1.39.1 | Vulnerable | CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP |
Attack characteristics
The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.
Every base score collected
Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.
| Score | Version | Severity | Expl. | Impact | Scored by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.5 | CVSS 3.1 | High | 3.9 | 3.6 | security-advisories@github.com via NIST National Vulnerability Database |
| 7.5 | CVSS 3.1 | High | — | — | GitHub_M via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP |
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H (score shown at the top: security-advisories@github.com) Weakness MITRE
Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.
CWE-401 · Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime
Detection
Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.
- Prioritize edge telemetry for the network-reachable component (proxy, WAF, IDS/IPS).
- Correlate service crashes/restarts with inbound traffic; repeated crashes may indicate attempts.
Timeline
What happened to this CVE, newest first.
- 2026
- Affected products added · envoyproxy/envoy
- SSVC assessment updated
- Record published
- Fix documented
- CVSS changed · 7.5
- Source status changed · → Analyzed
- Record created in this database
- CVE published
Source activity
Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.
- 1× Official description updated · Oct 15, 2026 – Oct 15, 2026
References
9 on the record
- github.com/envoyproxy/envoy/security/advisories/GHSA-qgf6-qvhw-4hvh
- github.com/envoyproxy/envoy/commit/3fd0ffee7ac87adf3bc6e421656bb96310512300
- github.com/envoyproxy/envoy/commit/0910997f70e91d2d20c329bb507bfce44ce01f80
- github.com/envoyproxy/envoy/commit/fc75d8e35b0d11acbae18b63a0bd96e32e84f61b
- github.com/envoyproxy/envoy/commit/1fec994c868df008cdd4ae285aab58a196fd31f2
- github.com/envoyproxy/envoy/releases/tag/v1.38.4
- github.com/envoyproxy/envoy/releases/tag/v1.39.1
- github.com/envoyproxy/envoy/releases/tag/v1.37.6
- github.com/envoyproxy/envoy/releases/tag/v1.36.10
Elsewhere on this site
Related CVEs (same products)
- High CVE-2026-73553 Envoy: RBAC Authorization Bypass via Path Parameters 24d
- Medium CVE-2026-73511 Envoy: Potential path-matching/authentication bypass when using Envoy in combination with a backend stripping per-segment path (matrix) parameters (e.g. Apache Tomcat) 24d
- Medium CVE-2026-73551 Envoy: Path normalization does not handle dot and dotdot segments with parameters 24d
- High CVE-2026-73548 Envoy: Cross-user response poisoning via a generic (non-WebSocket) HTTP upgrade on Envoy's shared backend pool 24d
- High CVE-2026-73552 Envoy: HTTP RBAC safe_regex can fail open on RFC-valid obs-text header values 24d
- High CVE-2026-73546 Envoy: Stored XSS in Admin Stats Interface (/stats?format=html) 24d
Not in any source we poll
Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.
- No FIRST EPSS score.
- No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
- No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
- No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.
Answered from this record
Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.
What should defenders know first?
CVE-2026-73550 is "Envoy: HTTP/2 Discarded Host Header 200 GB Header-Copy OOM in Envoy", rated High. It affects Envoy (Envoyproxy); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 7.5 describes technical severity. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.
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