H2oApplication · Dena

CVE-2017-10908

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-12-22
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.2.3 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
H2O version 2.2.3 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service in the server via specially crafted HTTP/2 header.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

H2O web server versions 2.2.3 and earlier contain a denial-of-service vulnerability triggered by specially crafted HTTP/2 headers. The vulnerability allows remote attackers to crash or make the server unresponsive by sending malicious header data through HTTP/2 connections.

MitigationUpgrade H2O to a version newer than 2.2.3 (patched release). As a temporary workaround, consider disabling HTTP/2 or implementing strict header validation/limits at a reverse proxy if upgrade is not immediately feasible.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
H2oApplication
Affected:<= 2.2.3

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed H2O version
    Run `h2o --version` or `h2o -v` to retrieve the version number of the H2O web server binary installed on the system
    Affected if The version displayed is 2.2.3 or any earlier version (for example, 2.2.0, 2.1.0, etc.)
  2. Locate H2O configuration file
    Find the H2O configuration file (commonly at /etc/h2o/h2o.conf or within the /etc/h2o/ directory) that controls the server's runtime behavior
    Affected if A configuration file exists and is in active use by the H2O instance
  3. Verify if HTTP/2 is enabled
    Inspect the configuration file for 'http2:' directives or HTTP/2-related settings. Search for lines beginning with 'http2:' or containing 'http2' to determine if the HTTP/2 protocol is explicitly configured
    Affected if The http2: directive is present and set to a value that enables HTTP/2 (such as 'http2: ON' or simply 'http2:' without a disable flag)
  4. Check for HTTP/2 listener bindings
    Review configuration sections that define listen sockets (typically 'listen:' blocks) and verify whether any of them have the http2: directive attached, indicating those listeners accept HTTP/2 connections
    Affected if At least one listen directive includes http2: configuration, meaning the server accepts HTTP/2 connections

You are affected if H2O version is 2.2.3 or earlier AND HTTP/2 is enabled in your configuration, as the denial-of-service only triggers through malicious HTTP/2 header traffic.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 2.2.3
Interim mitigation

Upgrade H2O to a version newer than 2.2.3 (patched release). As a temporary workaround, consider disabling HTTP/2 or implementing strict header validation/limits at a reverse proxy if upgrade is not immediately feasible.

Fix this in H2o Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,720
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,752.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-10908 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-10908 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data