CVE-2026-73508

Netty: Memory Leak in DNS Record Decoder via Malformed Domain Names

Published Aug 13, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 5.3 Medium EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
Netty is an asynchronous, event-driven network application framework. Prior to 4.1.136.Final and 4.2.16.Final, io.netty.handler.codec.dns.AbstractDnsRecord, io.netty.handler.codec.dns.DefaultDnsRecordDecoder.decodeRecord(), and io.netty.handler.codec.dns.DnsCodecUtil.decompressDomainName() failed to release retained or newly allocated ByteBuf objects when IDN.toASCII() or encodeDomainName() rejected a malformed domain name, allowing unauthenticated remote DNS packets to leak direct memory incrementally until denial of service. This issue is fixed in versions 4.1.136.Final and 4.2.16.Final.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-mfg7-5gfp-c4w3 Netty: Memory Leak in DNS Record Decoder via Malformed Domain Names
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:netty:netty:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Netty
Netty netty
Vendors & Products Netty
Netty netty
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description Netty is an asynchronous, event-driven network application framework. Prior to 4.1.136.Final and 4.2.16.Final, io.netty.handler.codec.dns.AbstractDnsRecord, io.netty.handler.codec.dns.DefaultDnsRecordDecoder.decodeRecord(), and io.netty.handler.codec.dns.DnsCodecUtil.decompressDomainName() failed to release retained or newly allocated ByteBuf objects when IDN.toASCII() or encodeDomainName() rejected a malformed domain name, allowing unauthenticated remote DNS packets to leak direct memory incrementally until denial of service. This issue is fixed in versions 4.1.136.Final and 4.2.16.Final.
Title Netty: Memory Leak in DNS Record Decoder via Malformed Domain Names
Weaknesses CWE-772
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.3, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
Aug 13, 2026, 5:52 PM
Reserved
Aug 12, 2026, 7:00 PM
Status
Analyzed
Published
Aug 13, 2026, 3:20 PM
Modified
Sep 23, 2026, 3:39 PM
Severity
Important
Public date
Aug 13, 2026, 2:27 PM