CVE-2026-2229

Updated on 12 Mar 2026

Severity

7.5 High severity

Details

CVSS score
7.5
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Overview

About vulnerability

ImpactThe undici WebSocket client is vulnerable to a denial-of-service attack due to improper validation of the server_max_window_bits parameter in the permessage-deflate extension. When a WebSocket client connects to a server, it automatically advertises support for permessage-deflate compression. A malicious server can respond with an out-of-range server_max_window_bits value (outside zlib’s valid range of 8-15). When the server subsequently sends a compressed frame, the client attempts to create a zlib InflateRaw instance with the invalid windowBits value, causing a synchronous RangeError exception that is not caught, resulting in immediate process termination.

The vulnerability exists because:

  • The isValidClientWindowBits() function only validates that the value contains ASCII digits, not that it falls within the valid range 8-15
  • The createInflateRaw() call is not wrapped in a try-catch block
  • The resulting exception propagates up through the call stack and crashes the Node.js process

Details

Affected product:
undici
Affected packages:
undici @ 6.11.1 (+2 more)

ImpactThe undici WebSocket client is vulnerable to a denial-of-service attack due to improper validation of the server_max_window_bits parameter in the permessage-deflate extension. When a WebSocket client connects to a server, it automatically advertises support for permessage-deflate compression. A malicious server can respond with an out-of-range server_max_window_bits value (outside zlib’s valid range of 8-15). When the server subsequently sends a compressed frame, the client attempts to create a zlib InflateRaw instance with the invalid windowBits value, causing a synchronous RangeError exception that is not caught, resulting in immediate process termination.

The vulnerability exists because:

  • The isValidClientWindowBits() function only validates that the value contains ASCII digits, not that it falls within the valid range 8-15
  • The createInflateRaw() call is not wrapped in a try-catch block
  • The resulting exception propagates up through the call stack and crashes the Node.js process

Fixes