The Eclipse Jetty Server Artifact has a Gzip request memory leak
Description (as reported)
There is a memory leak when using GzipHandler in jetty-12.0.30 that can cause off-heap OOMs. This can be used for DoS attacks so I'm reporting this as a vulnerability.
The leak is created by requests where the request is inflated (Content-Encoding: gzip) and the response is not deflated (no Accept-Encoding: gzip). In these conditions, a new inflator will be created by GzipRequest and never released back into GzipRequest.__inflaterPool because gzipRequest.destory() is not called.
In heap dumps one can see thousands of java.util.zip.Inflator objects, which use both Java heaps and native memory. Leaking native memory causes of off-heap OOMs.
Code path in GzipHandler.handle():
- Line 601:
GzipRequestis created when request inflation is needed. - Lines 611-616: The callback is only wrapped in
GzipResponseAndCallbackwhen both inflation and deflation are needed. - Lines 619-625: If the handler accepts the request (returns true),
gzipRequest.destroy()is only called in the "request not accepted" path (returns false)
When deflation is needed, GzipResponseAndCallback (lines 102 and 116) properly calls gzipRequest.destroy() in its succeeded() and failed() methods. But this wrapper is only created when deflation is needed.
Possible fix:
The callback should be wrapped whenever a GzipRequest is created, not just when deflation is needed. This ensures gzipRequest.destroy() is always called when the request completes.
Impact
The leak causes the JVM to crash with OOME.
Patches
No patches yet.
Workarounds
Disable GzipHandler.
References
https://github.com/jetty/jetty.project/issues/14260
https://gitlab.eclipse.org/security/cve-assignment/-/issues/79
Affected software
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| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Java / Kotlin (Maven) | org.eclipse.jetty:jetty-server | >= 12.1.0, < 12.1.6, >= 12.0.0, < 12.0.32 | 12.1.6, 12.0.32 |
References
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-400, CWE-401- Platform
- Java / Kotlin (Maven)
- Package
org.eclipse.jetty:jetty-server- Disclosed
- 05.03.2026
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 13:20
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-xxh7-fcf3-rj7f - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: org.eclipse.jetty:jetty-server
All published vulnerabilities of this package (Java / Kotlin (Maven)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
- Total entries
- 29
- First → latest
- 10.2018 07.2026
- Without a fix
- 0
- Exploited in attacks
- 0
Severity breakdown
- Critical 4
- High 10
- Medium 13
- Low 2
Disclosures per year
- 2018: 8
- 2019: 5
- 2020: 2
- 2021: 3
- 2022: 3
- 2023: 2
- 2024: 1
- 2025: 1
- 2026: 4
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The Eclipse Jetty Server Artifact has a Gzip request memory leak this entry
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