CVE-2026-54874: Software Security Vulnerability Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-97g4-hhwh-c697
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CVSS 7.5
CWE-405
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2026-54874 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) security vulnerability vulnerability (CWE-405: Asymmetric Resource Consumption (Amplification)) affecting Software libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The weakness occurs when the product does not properly control situations in which an adversary can cause the product to consume or produce excessive resources without requiring the adversary to invest equivalent work or otherwise prove authorization, i.e., the adversary's influence is "asymmetric.". Remediation is available in the latest vendor maintenance releases.

CVE-2026-54874 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2026-54874
GHSA Identifier GHSA-97g4-hhwh-c697
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-405: Asymmetric Resource Consumption (Amplification)
Affected Product Software
Package Ecosystem Maven
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2026-54874

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Software dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

mvn dependency:tree

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2026-54874, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Software in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than the patched release), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-405: Asymmetric Resource Consumption (Amplification), where the product does not properly control situations in which an adversary can cause the product to consume or produce excessive resources without requiring the adversary to invest equivalent work or otherwise prove authorization, i.e., the adversary's influence is "asymmetric.". In Software, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

Issue summary: Receiving a DTLS record for a future epoch while a handshake is in progress causes OpenSSL to buffer far more memory than the record itself requires. Impact summary: A peer can use a small amount of network traffic to make an OpenSSL DTLS endpoint retain a disproportionately large amount of memory, which may lead to a Denial of Service. CWE: CWE-405: Asymmetric Resource Consumption (Amplification) Description: While a DTLS handshake is in progress, a peer may legitimately have already moved on to the next epoch (for example, having sent its ChangeCipherSpec and Finished messages) before the local endpoint has processed the same transition, typically because of reordering on the underlying UDP transport. OpenSSL buffers such early records so that they can be processed once the local endpoint catches up. Buffering a record currently retains the entire read buffer it arrived in, which is sized to hold the largest possible DTLS record (around 16 kilobytes), rather than just the bytes that make up the record itself. Up to 100 such records may be buffered per connection. As a result, a peer that sends a stream of small forged records claiming to belong to the next epoch can cause an OpenSSL DTLS endpoint to retain around 1.7 megabytes of memory, despite sending only a small fraction of that amount of data over the network. An attacker therefore gains a memory amplification factor of around 1200, and can multiply the effect across as many associations as it is able to open, making this a remote memory exhaustion Denial of Service risk for DTLS servers. Since the memory retained per connection remains bounded, and any limit an application already places on the number of concurrent associations also bounds the total exposure, this issue has been assessed as Low severity. FIPS impact: no No FIPS modules are affected by this issue as the affected code is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary. OpenSSL 4.0, 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.0, 1.1.1 and 1.0.2 are vulnerable to this issue. OpenSSL 4.0 users should upgrade to OpenSSL 4.0.2. OpenSSL 3.6 users should upgrade to OpenSSL 3.6.4. OpenSSL 3.5 users should upgrade to OpenSSL 3.5.8. OpenSSL 3.4 users should upgrade to OpenSSL 3.4.7. OpenSSL 3.0 users should upgrade to OpenSSL 3.0.22. Premium support customers only: OpenSSL 1.1.1 users should upgrade to OpenSSL 1.1.1zi OpenSSL 1.0.2 users should upgrade to OpenSSL 1.0.2zr This issue was reported on 18 May 2026 by Amazon Web Services. The fix has been developed by Matt Caswell. -- cut (non-publishing metadata for internal use) -- Reported by: Amazon Web Services Fixed by: Matt Caswell

References

NVD — CVE-2026-54874 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-54874
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/4808b5d64176451f3d93d87d0ac9c81a9b13fb23
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/7110cb2f75806d0bf809eb2f90790d477900be40
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/a0c8ec557d9cac078f032d76cdf684fe743eb382
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/cc0c6710917cd5eec001b297355d2ba723505107
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/f52ffc11b90737ac89083909618dc2e1f42c561c
openssl-library.org/news/secadv/2026082... WEB
https://openssl-library.org/news/secadv/20260825.txt

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-54874?
CVE-2026-54874 is a security vulnerability in Software classified as a security vulnerability vulnerability under CWE-405: Asymmetric Resource Consumption (Amplification).
Which Software versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to current release patches.
What version fixes CVE-2026-54874?
Upgrading to current release patches (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-54874?
CVE-2026-54874 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2026-54874?
CVE-2026-54874 is classified under CWE-405: Asymmetric Resource Consumption (Amplification) (The product does not properly control situations in which an adversary can cause the product to consume or produce excessive resources without requiring the adversary to invest equivalent work or otherwise prove authorization, i.e., the adversary's influence is "asymmetric.").
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2026-54874?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
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  "id" : "GHSA-97g4-hhwh-c697",
  "modified" : "2026-08-25T15:32:59Z",
  "published" : "2026-08-25T15:32:58Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-54874" ],
  "details" : "Issue summary: Receiving a DTLS record for a future epoch while a handshake\nis in progress causes OpenSSL to buffer far more memory than the record\nitself requires.\n\nImpact summary: A peer can use a small amount of network traffic to make an\nOpenSSL DTLS endpoint retain a disproportionately large amount of memory,\nwhich may lead to a Denial of Service.\n\nCWE: CWE-405: Asymmetric Resource Consumption (Amplification)\n\nDescription: While a DTLS handshake is in progress, a peer may legitimately\nhave already moved on to the next epoch (for example, having sent its\nChangeCipherSpec and Finished messages) before the local endpoint has\nprocessed the same transition, typically because of reordering on the\nunderlying UDP transport. OpenSSL buffers such early records so that they\ncan be processed once the local endpoint catches up.\n\nBuffering a record currently retains the entire read buffer it arrived in,\nwhich is sized to hold the largest possible DTLS record (around 16\nkilobytes), rather than just the bytes that make up the record itself. Up\nto 100 such records may be buffered per connection. As a result, a peer\nthat sends a stream of small forged records claiming to belong to the next\nepoch can cause an OpenSSL DTLS endpoint to retain around 1.7 megabytes of\nmemory, despite sending only a small fraction of that amount of data over\nthe network.\n\nAn attacker therefore gains a memory amplification factor of around 1200,\nand can multiply the effect across as many associations as it is able to\nopen, making this a remote memory exhaustion Denial of Service risk for\nDTLS servers. Since the memory retained per connection remains bounded,\nand any limit an application already places on the number of concurrent\nassociations also bounds the total exposure, this issue has been assessed\nas Low severity.\n\nFIPS impact: no\n\nNo FIPS modules are affected by this issue as the affected code is outside\nthe OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.\n\nOpenSSL 4.0, 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.0, 1.1.1 and 1.0.2 are vulnerable to this\nissue.\n\nOpenSSL 4.0 users should upgrade to OpenSSL 4.0.2.\nOpenSSL 3.6 users should upgrade to OpenSSL 3.6.4.\nOpenSSL 3.5 users should upgrade to OpenSSL 3.5.8.\nOpenSSL 3.4 users should upgrade to OpenSSL 3.4.7.\nOpenSSL 3.0 users should upgrade to OpenSSL 3.0.22.\n\nPremium support customers only:\nOpenSSL 1.1.1 users should upgrade to OpenSSL 1.1.1zi\nOpenSSL 1.0.2 users should upgrade to OpenSSL 1.0.2zr\n\nThis issue was reported on 18 May 2026 by Amazon Web Services.\nThe fix has been developed by Matt Caswell.\n\n-- cut (non-publishing metadata for internal use) --\nReported by: Amazon Web Services\nFixed by: Matt Caswell",
  "severity" : [ {
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  } ],
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    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-54874"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/4808b5d64176451f3d93d87d0ac9c81a9b13fb23"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/7110cb2f75806d0bf809eb2f90790d477900be40"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/a0c8ec557d9cac078f032d76cdf684fe743eb382"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/cc0c6710917cd5eec001b297355d2ba723505107"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/f52ffc11b90737ac89083909618dc2e1f42c561c"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://openssl-library.org/news/secadv/20260825.txt"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-405" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : false,
    "github_reviewed_at" : null,
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-08-25T13:19:24Z"
  }
}