CVE-2016-10544 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.9) Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in uws. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2016-10544 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Denial of Service in uws
Real-World Exposure
uwsReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects npm packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
uws is a WebSocket server library. By sending a 256mb websocket message to a uws server instance with permessage-deflate enabled, there is a possibility used compression will shrink said 256mb down to less than 16mb of websocket payload which passes the length check of 16mb payload. This data will then inflate up to 256mb and crash the node process by exceeding V8's maximum string size. This affects uws >=0.10.0 <=0.10.8.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | uws | ≥ 0.10.0&&< 0.10.9 | 0.10.9 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for uws. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update uws to 0.10.9 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2016-10544 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2016-10544 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2016-10544. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2016-10544 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2016-10544 across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.