CVE-2026-54874
Description
A flaw was found in OpenSSL. Receiving a DTLS (Datagram Transport Layer Security) record for a future epoch while a handshake is in progress causes OpenSSL to buffer an excessive amount of memory. This allows a peer to cause memory exhaustion, eventually resulting in a denial of service, using a small amount of network traffic.
Statement
To exploit this issue, an attacker needs to send a DTLS record for a future epoch while the handshake is in progress. This can cause excessive consumption of memory, eventually resulting in a denial of service. However, the retained memory is limited to 1.7MB per connection and the limit on simultaneous connections can prevent successful exploitation. For these reasons, this vulnerability has been rated with a low severity.
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).
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: Amplification; DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)
Sometimes this is a factor in "flood" attacks, but other types of amplification exist.
Frequently Asked Questions
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