Prometheus: Remote read endpoint allows denial of service via crafted snappy payload
High7.5CVE-2026-42154 · Published May 5, 2026 · updated Sep 10, 2026
### Impact The remote read endpoint (`/api/v1/read`) does not validate the declared decoded length in a snappy-compressed request body before allocating memory. An unauthenticated attacker can send a small payload that causes a huge heap allocation per request. Under concurrent load this can exhaust available memory and crash the Prometheus process. ### Patches _Has the problem been patched? What versions should users upgrade to?_ Fixed in 3.11.3 and 3.5.3 LTS. Users should upgrade to these versions or later. ### Workarounds User who can not upgrade can place Prometheus behind a reverse proxy or firewall that requires authentication before requests reach /api/v1/read.
Affected versions
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| github.com/prometheus/prometheus Go | >= 0.306.0, < 0.311.3 | 0.311.3 |
| < 0.305.2 | 0.305.2 | |
| >= 1.0.0-rc.0, <= 2.5.0 | No fix yet |
Details and references
- CVSS 3.1
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- Severity from
- GitHub (reviewed advisory)
- Weakness
- CWE-400, CWE-789
- Also known as
- BIT-prometheus-2026-42154, CVE-2026-42154, GO-2026-5264
- github.com/prometheus/prometheus/security/advisories/GHSA-8rm2-7qqf-34qm
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-42154
- github.com/prometheus/prometheus/pull/18584
- github.com/prometheus/prometheus/pull/18585
- github.com/prometheus/prometheus
- github.com/prometheus/prometheus/releases/tag/v3.11.3
- github.com/prometheus/prometheus/releases/tag/v3.5.3
More prometheus advisories
All prometheus| Date | Advisory | Severity | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 5 | prometheus: cross-site scripting | Medium6.1 | 0.311.3 |
| May 5 | Prometheus Azure AD remote write OAuth client secret exposed via config API | High7.5 | 0.311.3 |
| Apr 13 | Prometheus has Stored XSS via metric names and label values in Prometheus web UI tooltips and metrics explorer | Medium6.1 | 0.311.2-0.20260410083055-07c6232d159b |
| Dec 52022 | Prometheus vulnerable to basic authentication bypass | High7.2 | 2.37.4+1 more |