CVE-2018-16844 — nginx before versions 1

nginx before versions 1.15.6 and 1.14.1 has a vulnerability in the implementation of HTTP/2 that can allow for excessive CPU usage. This issue affects nginx compiled with the ngx_http_v2_module (not compiled by default) if the 'http2' option of the 'listen' di

01What is this vulnerability?

nginx before versions 1.15.6 and 1.14.1 has a vulnerability in the implementation of HTTP/2 that can allow for excessive CPU usage. This issue affects nginx compiled with the ngx_http_v2_module (not compiled by default) if the 'http2' option of the 'listen' directive is used in a configuration file.

02Affected products

Vendor	Product	Versions
[UNKNOWN]	nginx	1.15.6, 1.14.1

03Active exploitation status

Not currently listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. EPSS is the best forward-looking signal — see the EPSS row above.

04Recommended remediation

• Patch to a fixed version listed in the vendor advisory (see references below).
• Mitigate with WAF rules, network egress filters, or feature flags where the patch is not yet available.
• Hunt historical logs for exploitation indicators — see Detection signatures below.

05Technical details

For the full vendor write-up, exploit chains, and reference implementations, see the references list in section 09.

06Detection signatures

Ask SARA in chat to draft a starting detection for this CVE in your stack of choice.

07Related CVEs

No directly-cited follow-up CVEs in the KB record for this advisory. The references list in section 09 carries the vendor cross-references.

08Timeline

• Published: 2018-11-07T14:00:00.000Z
• Last modified: 2024-08-05T10:32:54.086Z

09References

• www.debian.org — https://www.debian.org/security/2018/dsa-4335
• bugzilla.redhat.com — https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2018-16844
• access.redhat.com — https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3680
• access.redhat.com — https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3681
• www.securityfocus.com — http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/105868
• mailman.nginx.org — http://mailman.nginx.org/pipermail/nginx-announce/2018/000220.html
• www.securitytracker.com — http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1042038
• usn.ubuntu.com — https://usn.ubuntu.com/3812-1/
• lists.opensuse.org — http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-09/msg00035.html
• support.apple.com — https://support.apple.com/kb/HT212818
• seclists.org — http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2021/Sep/36