GitHub Advisoryadvisory · npm
GHSA-9mqv-5hh9-4cgg Node.js Adapter for Hono: Unauthenticated memory-leak DoS via aborted WebSocket handshake
MEDIUM
Official page ↗
- Aliases
- CVE-2026-73565
- Ecosystem
- npm
- Packages
- @hono/node-server
- Severity
- Moderate
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
- Weaknesses
- CWE-401, CWE-770
- Reviewed
- 2026-07-21
Affected packages
• npm @hono/node-server: >= 2.0.0, < 2.0.10 → fixed in 2.0.10
Description
Summary
A WebSocket upgrade request to an `upgradeWebSocket` route with a missing or malformed `Sec-WebSocket-Key` header leaks memory permanently. The request's `IncomingMessage` is retained in an internal map and a pending promise is never settled, even though no connection is established. Since the route is reachable pre-handshake without authentication, an unauthenticated attacker can flood it to gradually exhaust memory.
Details
The built-in WebSocket helper cleans up its internal map only on a successful handshake or when the route guard rejects the request. When `ws` aborts the handshake because `Sec-WebSocket-Key` is missing or malformed, no `connection` event is emitted, so neither cleanup path runs and the entry is retained forever. A present-but-malformed key leaks identically, so a proxy that only checks for the header's presence does not mitigate it.
Impact
An unauthenticated attacker can flood any public `upgradeWebSocket` route with malformed-key upgrade requests, causing unbounded memory growth and eventual loss of availability. No confidentiality or integrity impact.
Reported by @TarPeg007.
Related
Alias · CVE (1)
- CVE-2026-73565 @hono/node-server allows running the Hono application on Node.js. vulnerability