CVE-2026-48521: Envoy: HTTP/3 connection pool selection null-derefs in ProdClusterManagerFactory::allocateConnPool when transport_socket_options is null

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.9 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.7% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2026-09-21 · updated 2026-10-05
Weakness: CWE-476

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.

Affected products

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

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: envoyproxy envoy 1.36.10, 1.37.6, 1.38.4, 1.39.1. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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