GitHub Advisoryadvisory · npm
GHSA-3wwx-pv8p-q78v undici vulnerable to Denial of Service via unhandled error in WebSocket permessage-deflate decompression
MEDIUM
Official page ↗
- Aliases
- CVE-2026-85024
- Ecosystem
- npm
- Packages
- undici
- Severity
- Moderate
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- Weaknesses
- CWE-248
- Reviewed
- 2026-09-28
Affected packages
• npm undici: >= 6.25.0, < 6.28.1 → fixed in 6.28.1
• npm undici: >= 7.28.0, < 7.29.1 → fixed in 7.29.1
• npm undici: >= 8.1.0, < 8.10.2 → fixed in 8.10.2
Description
Impact
undici's WebSocket client (including Node.js's bundled `globalThis.WebSocket`) crashes the entire Node.js process when a remote WebSocket peer sends a permessage-deflate compressed message that crosses the decompressed-payload size limit and then contains a malformed DEFLATE block. In `lib/web/websocket/permessage-deflate.js`, the size-limit cleanup calls `removeAllListeners()` on the internal zlib `InflateRaw`, removing its `error` listener, but leaves the stream running. The inflater then emits a `Z_DATA_ERROR` with no listener attached, which Node.js treats as a fatal unhandled `error` event and terminates the process. Application `error`/`close` handlers on the public WebSocket cannot observe or prevent this, because the failing object is the internal `InflateRaw`.
A malicious or compromised WebSocket server can crash a client with a single connection, unauthenticated and without any application mistake. The attack is asymmetric (about 130 KB on the wire expands past the limit) and can be repeated on reconnect (crash loop).
Affected applications are those using the undici WebSocket client (`new WebSocket(...)`) or Node.js's bundled `globalThis.WebSocket` that can be induced to connect to an attacker-controlled or compromised WebSocket endpoint.
Patches
Upgrade to undici v6.28.1, v7.29.1 or v8.10.2.
Workarounds
No workaround is available.
Related
Alias · CVE (1)
- CVE-2026-85024 undici bundles a WebSocket client whose permessage-deflate size-limit cleanup removes all listeners from the internal zlib inflate stream,… vulnerability
Weakness · CWE (1)
- CWE-248 Uncaught Exception weakness
References
- https://github.com/nodejs/undici/security/advisories/GHSA-3wwx-pv8p-q78v web
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-85024 advisory
- https://github.com/nodejs/undici/commit/07c60d9c7099a910451244afe42861bbdbdd974c web
- https://github.com/nodejs/undici/commit/4411a238a98e8791da5fff10cc9e3578a7668ed6 web
- https://github.com/nodejs/undici/commit/63cf698b611fecc6ee0a17b185b930051e4b982f web
- https://cna.openjsf.org/security-advisories.html web
- https://github.com/nodejs/undici package
- https://github.com/nodejs/undici/releases/tag/v6.28.1 web
- https://github.com/nodejs/undici/releases/tag/v7.29.1 web
- https://github.com/nodejs/undici/releases/tag/v8.10.2 web