CVE-2026-15711
Description
A vulnerability was found in libsoup's WebSocket frame parsing implementation. The library fails to validate length rules specified in RFC 6455 §5.5, which mandates that all WebSocket control frames (e.g., PING, PONG, CLOSE) contain a payload of 125 bytes or less. A remote, unauthenticated attacker can exploit this by sending a non-compliant, oversized control frame. Because the parser handles this protocol violation improperly instead of throwing an immediate connection termination error, it triggers a internal processing crash, resulting in a remote denial of service (DoS) for applications utilizing libsoup WebSockets.
Statement
This flaw poses a moderate availability risk to both client and server applications depending on libsoup for WebSocket networking. By failing to drop connections that break core protocol design rules, the library allows low-complexity remote inputs to abruptly terminate the service state machine. Exploitation requires no authentication or user interaction, allowing any hostile peer on the wire to forcibly disconnect endpoints or crash application wrapper logic by intentionally packing data into a signaling frame.
Mitigation
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 7.5 | N/A | 7.5 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Network |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | None |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | None |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)
When allocating resources without limits, an attacker could prevent other systems, applications, or processes from accessing the same type of resource. It can be easy for an attacker to consume many resources by rapidly making many requests or causing larger resources to be used than is needed.
Acknowledgements
Red Hat would like to thank Sebastián Alba Vives (@Sebasteuo / 0xS4bb1) for reporting this issue.
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