CVE-2026-85014
undici's experimental WebSocketStream client crashes the whole Node.js process when a remote peer closes the TCP connection without a WebSoc
CVSS
5.9
Medium
EPSS
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KEV
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Exploit Today
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0-100
Published: Sep 4, 2026 · Last modified: Sep 4, 2026 · CWE-248 · CWE-754
Not enough EPSS history yet.
undici's experimental WebSocketStream client crashes the whole Node.js process when a remote peer closes the TCP connection without a WebSocket close handshake. On an unclean close the internal socket-close handler calls abort on the writable stream unconditionally and discards the returned promise, but per the WHATWG Streams standard aborting a locked writable returns a promise that rejects with a TypeError. Because the application holds a writer on that writable, which is the only way to write, the rejection is never observed and Node's default unhandled-rejection behavior terminates the process. An untrusted server can therefore crash a client with a single abrupt disconnect, with no authentication and no application mistake. This affects undici versions from 7.0.0 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.
CVECVSSEPSSKEVRExploitTitleMod.
CVE-2026-195347.5 HIG—
———undici's WebSocket client crashes the whole Node.js process during the opening handshake when a server responds with a subprotocol that the client never requested. A default WebSocket connection sends no subprotocol, but if the server's 101 response includes a Sec-WebSocket-Protocol header, undici dereferences a null value while checking it against the requested list and throws an uncaught TypeError. Because that code runs inside a microtask with no surrounding error handling, the exception propagates and terminates the process under Node's default behavior, instead of gracefully failing the connection as required by the WebSocket protocol. Any application that opens a WebSocket to an attacker-controlled or compromised server, or over a plaintext connection subject to a machine-in-the-middle, can be crashed remotely without authentication in the default configuration. This affects undici versions from 6.7.0 up to 6.28.1, from 7.0.0 up to 7.29.1, and from 8.0.0 up to 8.10.2. Users should upgrade to undici 6.28.1, 7.29.1, or 8.10.2.18hCVE-2026-850245.9 MED—
———undici bundles a WebSocket client whose permessage-deflate size-limit cleanup removes all listeners from the internal zlib inflate stream, including its error listener, while that stream can still emit. When a remote peer sends a compressed payload that crosses the built-in 128 MiB decompressed-payload limit and then contains a malformed DEFLATE byte, the inflate stream emits a data error with no listener attached, which Node.js treats as a fatal unhandled error and terminates the entire process. Exploitation is remote and unauthenticated, requires no application mistake, and is asymmetric, since roughly 130 KB on the wire expands past the limit and crashes the process, and reconnecting can repeat the crash. This affects undici versions from 6.25.0 up to 6.28.1, from 7.28.0 up to 7.29.1, and from 8.1.0 up to 8.10.2. Users should upgrade to undici 6.28.1, 7.29.1, or 8.10.2.17hCVE-2026-849473.7 LOW—
———undici's dump interceptor reads and discards a response body up to a configurable maximum size. When a response declares a Content-Length that exceeds the maximum, the interceptor aborts cleanly, but when a response has no Content-Length and is chunked, the interceptor instead signals completion early once the accumulated size reaches the maximum, without pausing or aborting the request. Because the underlying parser keeps delivering body bytes, a second completion signal fires and trips an internal assertion, which aborts the request and tears down the connection. The application is left observing a misleading successful status with an empty or truncated body while the connection has actually been disconnected. This affects undici versions from 7.1.0 up to 7.29.1 and from 8.0.0 up to 8.10.2. Users should upgrade to undici 7.29.1 or 8.10.2.18hCVE-2026-726446.5 MED21.8%
——7Uncaught Exception (CWE-248) in Kibana can lead to a denial of service via Input Data Manipulation (CAPEC-153). An authenticated user holding only the low-privileged feature access required to use the Observability AI Assistant can submit a specially crafted request that produces an unhandled error condition, terminating the Kibana process and denying service to all users and spaces on that instance until it is restarted.3dCVE-2026-824175.3 MED17.6%
——5### Summary
`qs.stringify` throws a `TypeError` when it serializes an object whose own `constructor` property has a truthy, non-callable `isBuffer` member. `utils.isBuffer` duck-types buffers by calling `obj.constructor.isBuffer(obj)` after checking only that the property is truthy, so a value such as `{ constructor: { isBuffer: "x" } }` makes the call throw `TypeError: obj.constructor.isBuffer is not a function`.
### Details
`lib/stringify.js:127` calls `utils.isBuffer` on every non-primitive value it serializes. `utils.isBuffer` (`lib/utils.js:332`) reads `obj.constructor.isBuffer` and invokes it without verifying that it is a function. `constructor` and `isBuffer` are ordinary property names, so any object carrying them as own properties reaches the unchecked call.
Such an object can be built from untrusted input. `qs.parse("x[constructor][isBuffer]=y", { plainObjects: true })` or `{ allowPrototypes: true }` keeps the `constructor` key as an own property (the default parse options drop it), and `JSON.parse("{\"a\":{\"constructor\":{\"isBuffer\":\"x\"}}}")` produces the same shape with no qs option involved. Express 4 with its default `query parser` setting and body-parser with `extended: true` both call `qs.parse` with `allowPrototypes: true`, so on those stacks `req.query` and `req.body` can carry the shape directly.
#### PoC
```js
var qs = require("qs");
qs.stringify(qs.parse("x[constructor][isBuffer]=y", { plainObjects: true }));
qs.stringify(JSON.parse("{\"a\":{\"constructor\":{\"isBuffer\":\"x\"}}}"));
// TypeError: obj.constructor.isBuffer is not a function
// at Object.isBuffer (lib/utils.js:332:78)
// at stringify (lib/stringify.js:127:45)
```
#### Fix
`lib/utils.js`, applied in e83d321 on `main` and released as v6.16.0:
```diff
- return !!(obj.constructor && obj.constructor.isBuffer && obj.constructor.isBuffer(obj));
+ return !!(obj.constructor && typeof obj.constructor.isBuffer === "function" && obj.constructor.isBuffer(obj));
```
Real `Buffer`, `safer-buffer`, and browserify `buffer` polyfill instances serialize exactly as before; only the throw is removed.
### Affected versions
`>=2.2.5 <6.16.0`, fixed in v6.16.0.
The unguarded duck-type was introduced in 3768a75 and first shipped in v2.2.5 (September 2014). v2.2.4 and earlier used `Buffer.isBuffer` and are not affected. Every release from v2.2.5 through v6.15.3 contains the unguarded call.
### Impact
An unauthenticated request can make any code path that re-serializes attacker-influenced data with `qs.stringify` (for example, rebuilding a query string from `req.query` for a redirect or an upstream request, or serializing a parsed JSON body) throw synchronously. In a typical Node.js HTTP framework the throw is caught by the framework error boundary and the affected request returns a 500; the process survives and other requests are unaffected. Where the call runs outside an error boundary, such as an `async` Express 4 handler (where the throw becomes an unhandled promise rejection) or a background job, the process exits, so the impact in that case depends on the application error handling rather than on qs.2dCVE-2026-815177.5 HIG17.8%
——5An unauthenticated party able to reach the port of a MongoDB Connector for BI (mongosqld) instance may generate enough routine connection log activity to exhaust the storage backing the configured log path. When a log write or log rotation operation subsequently fails, the resulting error is not handled and the shared mongosqld process ends, ending service for all connected SQL clients. The process continues to end on startup until an operator restores available storage, and the diagnostic message explaining the condition is not recorded.4d