Security assessments indicate that CVE-2026-18149 presents a notable risk, potentially requiring prompt mitigation.
Status: Analyzed
Last updated: 🕣 16 Sep 2026, 20:41 UTC
Originally published on: 🕕 04 Sep 2026, 18:17 UTC
Time between publication and last update: 12 days
CVSS Release: version 3
ce714d77-add3-4f53-aff5-83d477b104bb
Secondary
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVE-2026-18149: undici's retry handler can leave an already-exposed response body pending forever. When a server returns a successful response that declares a Content-Length, sends only part of the body, and closes the connection, the retry handler retries the request. If the retry returns a non-retryable status such as 400, the handler forwards that new response downstream and replaces its internal response stream, but the original response body that the application still holds is never ended or destroyed. As a result calls that read that body never settle, and the configured body timeout does not fire because its timer is tied to the connection parser rather than the orphaned body. An attacker-controlled server can trigger this with two short responses without keeping a connection open, and repeated requests accumulate pending promises and streams that can exhaust application concurrency or memory. This affects undici versions from 7.11.0 up to 7.29.1 and from 8.0.0 up to 8.10.2. Users should upgrade to undici 7.29.1 or 8.10.2.
The exploitability of CVE-2026-18149 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).
CVE-2026-18149 presents a challenge to exploit due to its high attack complexity, but the absence of privilege requirements still makes it a viable target for skilled attackers. A thorough security review is advised.
A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.
Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.
Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.
Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2026-18149, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.
Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2026-18149, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.
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