GitHub Advisoryadvisory · Go
GHSA-6vch-q96h-7gc3 etcd: `tlsListener.acceptLoop` spawns unbounded handshake goroutines with no deadline
HIGH
Official page ↗
- Aliases
- CVE-2026-73500
- Ecosystem
- Go
- Packages
- go.etcd.io/etcd/v3
- Severity
- High
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- Weaknesses
- CWE-770
- Reviewed
- 2026-07-24
Affected packages
• Go go.etcd.io/etcd/v3: >= 3.7.0-alpha.0, < 3.7.1 → fixed in 3.7.1
• Go go.etcd.io/etcd/v3: >= 3.6.0, < 3.6.14 → fixed in 3.6.14
• Go go.etcd.io/etcd/v3: < 3.5.33 → fixed in 3.5.33
Description
Impact
_What kind of vulnerability is it? Who is impacted?_
A network attacker who can reach an etcd TLS listener can open many TCP connections and never send a ClientHello. Each connection spawns a goroutine in the etcd server process that blocks indefinitely inside tls.Conn.Handshake(), and each is tracked in the pending map. Unbounded goroutine and map growth exhausts memory in the etcd process, causing loss of availability for the etcd cluster (and, when etcd backs Kubernetes, the control plane).
Patches
_Has the problem been patched? What versions should users upgrade to?_
This vulnerability is patched in the following versions:
• etcd 3.7.1
• etcd 3.6.14
• etcd 3.5.33
Workarounds
_Is there a way for users to fix or remediate the vulnerability without upgrading?_
If upgrading is not immediately possible, then restrict network access. Limit which hosts can reach etcd's client (gRPC) port via firewall rules or network policy, reducing who can attempt exploitation.
Reporter
VMware By Broadcom
Related
Alias · CVE (1)
- CVE-2026-73500 etcd is a distributed key-value store for the data of a distributed system. vulnerability
Weakness · CWE (1)
- CWE-770 Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling weakness
References
- https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/security/advisories/GHSA-6vch-q96h-7gc3 web
- https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/pull/22130 web
- https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/commit/2e07efce9745004eb4773cffaada9b5cdf77cff2 web
- https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/commit/f73cba7d920019f91a1ea1f6697833e42731f057 web
- https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd package
- https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.5.33 web
- https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.6.14 web
- https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.7.1 web