CVE-2026-16318: amazon s2n-tls

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-16318 is a medium (CVSS 6.9) vulnerability in amazon s2n-tls. EPSS estimates a 0.53% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 43.8% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 21-07-2026
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 22-07-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

The QUIC transport parameters extension handler in s2n-tls incorrectly uses s2n_alloc instead of s2n_realloc to store the peer's transport parameters. When a TLS 1.3 connection goes through a HelloRetryRequest, the handler is called twice on the same connection. On the second call, s2n_alloc zeroes the existing pointer before allocating new memory, causing the first allocation to be leaked. This can occur during normal QUIC traffic when a client offers a key share group the server does not prefer. An unauthenticated user can amplify the issue by deliberately forcing HelloRetryRequests, causing up to approximately 64 KB of unreachable memory per handshake. Over time, this can lead to increased memory consumption on long-running server processes. The unreachable memory is only reclaimed when the process is restarted. Only server-side QUIC-enabled deployments are affected. Non-QUIC TLS connections are not affected. We recommend you upgrade s2n-tls to version v1.7.6

• CWE-401Missing Release of Memory after Effective LifetimeThe product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, making the memory unavailable for reallocation and reuse.