Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
A flaw in Netty's Redis codec lets a remote attacker crash any server that parses Redis traffic by sending a specially crafted, deeply nested message. The server runs out of memory and stops responding. No data theft is involved, but availability of affected applications can be disrupted until the process restarts.
Executive priority
Treat as a high-priority availability issue for any product or service that exposes a Redis-speaking endpoint built on Netty. Schedule the library upgrade in the next standard patch window; escalate to expedited change if the affected listener is internet-reachable or serves external tenants.
Technical view
In netty-codec-redis before 4.1.135.Final and 4.2.15.Final, the RedisArrayAggregator does not bound the depth of nested Redis arrays. A crafted RESP payload triggers allocation of large numbers of state objects and collections, exhausting the JVM heap and producing an OutOfMemoryError. CVSS 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/A:H), CWE-400 and CWE-770. Fixed by capping nesting/state growth in the 4.1.135.Final and 4.2.15.Final releases.
Likely exposure
Any Java service that embeds netty-codec-redis to speak the Redis wire protocol (proxies, brokers, custom Redis servers or connectors) and accepts untrusted or partially trusted clients on that port. Standard client-only workloads talking to a trusted managed Redis are much lower risk than servers or proxies that decode inbound Redis frames.
Exploitation context
No CISA KEV listing and no public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cited in the bundle. Exploitation is unauthenticated and network-based per the CVSS vector, and the underlying pattern (parser resource exhaustion via nested structures) is well understood, so weaponization by a motivated attacker is plausible once details circulate.
Researcher notes
Root cause is unbounded recursion/state accumulation in RedisArrayAggregator when decoding nested RESP arrays (CWE-400/CWE-770). The GHSA-3244-j874-rhc2 advisory and the 4.1.135.Final / 4.2.15.Final release notes are the authoritative references; Red Hat's VEX and RHSA-2026:37390 confirm downstream impact. No public PoC is cited in the bundle. Consider fuzzing the Redis decoder pipeline for related depth or size assumptions.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade netty-codec-redis to 4.1.135.Final or 4.2.15.Final across all deployments and rebuild dependent artifacts.
- Apply vendor errata such as Red Hat RHSA-2026:37390 where Netty ships as a platform component.
- Restrict network exposure of Redis-protocol listeners to trusted clients via firewalls, mTLS, or service mesh policy.
- Enforce per-connection memory, request-size, and rate limits at the proxy or load balancer in front of Redis endpoints.
- Track transitive Netty usage through SBOM/SCA tooling so shaded or bundled copies are also updated.
Validation and detection
- Inventory all Java services and container images for io.netty:netty-codec-redis versions below 4.1.135.Final or between 4.2.0.Final and 4.2.15.Final.
- Confirm fixed versions are resolved at runtime, not just in the build file, by inspecting deployed JARs or dependency reports.
- In a controlled lab, send progressively deeper nested Redis arrays and observe that the patched build rejects or bounds parsing without heap exhaustion.
- Review monitoring for OutOfMemoryError, sudden heap growth, or unexplained restarts on services exposing Redis codecs.
- Verify Red Hat and other downstream advisories map to the platform versions you actually run.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-400: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCWE-770: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2026-44250 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.5 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
SSVC decision data
CVSS vector scores
2 official scoresWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H3.93.6GitHub_MCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H3.93.6redhat-SADPVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.5HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.5HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- ADP timelineredhat-SADP
Made public.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- ADP timelineredhat-SADP
Reported to Red Hat.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
- 2026-06-11T22:01:16.373Z: Reported to Red Hat.
- 2026-06-11T20:49:00.487Z: Made public.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-3244-j874-rhc2CVE reference, GitHub_M · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/netty/netty/releases/tag/netty-4.1.135.FinalCVE reference, GitHub_M · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/netty/netty/releases/tag/netty-4.2.15.FinalCVE reference, GitHub_M · x_refsource_MISC
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-44250CVE reference, redhat-SADP · vdb-entry, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHBZ#2488062CVE reference, redhat-SADP · issue-tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT
- https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-44250.jsonCVE reference, redhat-SADP · x_sadp-csaf-vex
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:37390CVE reference, redhat-SADP · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.