CVE-2026-63446
CVE-2026-63446 — Suricata app-layer: passed flows can retain transactions, causing resource exhaustion
Suricata is a network Intrusion Detection System, Intrusion Prevention System and Network Security Monitoring engine. From 8.0.0 until 8.0.6, AppLayerParserSetTransactionInspectId() in src/app-layer-parser.c uses an inverted guard and marks only already-inspected transactions as inspected. On flows passed by a pass rule or pass-the-flow exception policy, detection is skipped, so completed transactions remain unmarked, are never freed, and are repeatedly rescanned. The per-flow list can grow without bound with quadratic cleanup cost, causing CPU and memory exhaustion. This issue is fixed in version 8.0.6.
Published Updated Sources: NVD, OISF (CNA), GitHub, SOCRadar CTI
Triage
Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the scoring sources call it.
Exploitation
Unreported
no source claims exploitation
EPSS
0%
ahead of 0% of scored CVEs
CVSS base
7.5
high
Remediation
The vendor's own words where we have them.
Upgrade suricata to a fixed release. Apply vendor patches per advisory and restrict external exposure of the affected component until patched.
First 24 hours
Ordered from the record's own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found.
- Identify exposed assets running affected vendor/product/version combinations.
- Prioritize based on EPSS, PoC availability, and external exposure.
- Search available logs for exploit probes, errors, authentication anomalies, or suspicious child processes matching the vulnerability class.
Affected scope
Vendor, product and version as the advisories word them.
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| OISF | suricata | >= 8.0.0, < 8.0.6 | Vulnerable |
Attack characteristics
The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.
Availability
High
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Scope
Unchanged
Attack Complexity
Low
Attack Vector
Network
Privileges Req
None
User Interaction
None
Every base score collected
Sources score independently and disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.
| Score | Version | Severity | Expl. | Impact | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.5 | CVSS 3.1 | high | 3.9 | 3.6 | GitHub (CNA), OISF (CNA) |
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
What this weakness leads to
MITRE's own consequences and mitigations for the weakness class — the authority's wording, not guidance derived from the CVSS vector.
CWE-401 · Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime
- DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
- DoS: Instability
- DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU)
- DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory)
Mitigation: Choose a language or tool that provides automatic memory management, or makes manual memory management less error-prone. For example, glibc in Linux provides protection against free of invalid pointers. When using Xcode to target OS X or iOS, enable automatic reference counting (ARC) [REF-391]. To help correctly and consistently manage memory when programming in C++, consider using a smart pointer class such as std::auto_ptr (defined by ISO/IEC ISO/IEC 14882:2003), std::shared_ptr and std::unique_ptr (specified by an upcoming revision of the C++ standard, informally referred to as C++ 1x), or equivalent solutions such as Boost.
CWE-407 · Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity
- DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU)
- DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory)
- DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)
Weakness & attack patterns
- CWE-401
- CWE-407
Inferred from the weakness class — not observed against this CVE.
Detection
Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not rules we have tested.
- Search application, proxy, and WAF logs for requests touching /app-layer-parser.c.
- Prioritize edge telemetry for network-reachable suricata.
Timeline
What happened to this CVE, newest first — with the readings a source repeats on a schedule counted underneath rather than listed.
- 2026
Added · CVSS 3.1 7.5 (AV:N)
Sep 18, 2026 · NVD
Initial · CVE published
Sep 18, 2026 · NVD
CVE published by MITRE.
Sep 18, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI
References
6 on the record
- github.com/OISF/suricata/commit/006e21c1ccc38c1c815e7945d54b4638cc5f0de8
Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Mitre
- github.com/OISF/suricata/commit/60a83c62a1dfdfb589b2bad27fb7fc339fc964b7
Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Mitre
- github.com/OISF/suricata/pull/15726
Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Mitre
- github.com/OISF/suricata/releases/tag/suricata-8.0.6
Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Mitre
- github.com/OISF/suricata/security/advisories/GHSA-gjwr-75gq-877m
Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Mitre
- redmine.openinfosecfoundation.org/issues/8628
Vendor Advisory, Mitre
Elsewhere on this site
- OISFevery CVE for this vendor
- Denial of Servicesame class
- CWE-401other pages naming this weakness
Not in any source we poll
Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.
- No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
- No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
- No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.
Answered from this record1
What should defenders know first?
CVE-2026-63446 is Suricata app-layer: passed flows can retain transactions, causing resource exhaustion, a high vulnerability affecting suricata from OISF. The current evidence does not list it in CISA KEV, and the exploit status is: Active exploitation is not confirmed from current sources for CVE-2026-63446. Public exploit evidence is: A public PoC is not confirmed from current sources for CVE-2026-63446. The affected-version evidence is listed in the key facts and affected products tables. Defenders should first verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run those versions, then apply vendor patches or mitigations, restrict reachable attack surface, and preserve logs for detection review. CVSS 7.5 describes technical severity, while EPSS 0% helps estimate near-term exploit likelihood; neither replaces asset context. Unknown fields should remain explicit in tickets, and threat actor, IOC, victimology, or payload claims should not be added unless a cited source supports them. Monitor CISA KEV, vendor advisories, NVD changes, public PoC repositories, and internal telemetry for update triggers.