Security Bulletin: IBM Instana Observability is affected by multiple vulnerabilities within Instana Agent container image

Vulnerability Details

CVEID:   CVE-2026-33871
DESCRIPTION:   Netty is an asynchronous, event-driven network application framework. In versions prior to 4.1.132.Final and 4.2.10.Final, a remote user can trigger a Denial of Service (DoS) against a Netty HTTP/2 server by sending a flood of `CONTINUATION` frames. The server's lack of a limit on the number of `CONTINUATION` frames, combined with a bypass of existing size-based mitigations using zero-byte frames, allows an user to cause excessive CPU consumption with minimal bandwidth, rendering the server unresponsive. Versions 4.1.132.Final and 4.2.10.Final fix the issue.
CWE:   CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
CVSS Source:   NVD
CVSS Base score:   7.5
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-42578
DESCRIPTION:   Netty is an asynchronous, event-driven network application framework. Prior to 4.2.13.Final and 4.1.133.Final, Netty's HttpProxyHandler constructs HTTP CONNECT requests with header validation explicitly disabled. The newInitialMessage() method creates headers using DefaultHttpHeadersFactory.headersFactory().withValidation(false), then adds user-provided outboundHeaders without any CRLF validation. This allows an attacker who can influence the outbound headers to inject arbitrary HTTP headers into the CONNECT request sent to the proxy server. This vulnerability is fixed in 4.2.13.Final and 4.1.133.Final.
CWE:   CWE-113: Improper Neutralization of CRLF Sequences in HTTP Headers ('HTTP Request/Response Splitting')
CVSS Source:   NVD
CVSS Base score:   7.5
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-42583
DESCRIPTION:   Netty is an asynchronous, event-driven network application framework. Prior to 4.2.13.Final and 4.1.133.Final, Lz4FrameDecoder allocates a ByteBuf of size decompressedLength (up to 32 MB per block) before LZ4 runs. A peer only needs a 21-byte header plus compressedLength payload bytes - 22 bytes if compressedLength == 1 - to force that allocation. This vulnerability is fixed in 4.2.13.Final and 4.1.133.Final.
CWE:   CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
CVSS Source:   security-advisories@github.com
CVSS Base score:   7.5
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-40971
DESCRIPTION:   When configured to use an SSL bundle, Spring Boot's RabbitMQ auto-configuration does not perform hostname verification when connecting to the RabbitMQ broker. Affected: Spring Boot 4.0.0–4.0.5 (fix 4.0.6), 3.5.0–3.5.13 (fix 3.5.14) per vendor advisory.
CWE:   CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation
CVSS Source:   NVD
CVSS Base score:   9.1
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-40974
DESCRIPTION:   Spring Boot's Cassandra auto-configuration does not perform hostname verification when establishing an SSL connection to Cassandra. Affected: Spring Boot 4.0.0–4.0.5 (fix 4.0.6), 3.5.0–3.5.13 (fix 3.5.14), 3.4.0–3.4.15 (fix 3.4.16), 3.3.0–3.3.18 (fix 3.3.19), 2.7.0–2.7.32 (fix 2.7.33); Cassandra SSL auto-configuration. Versions that are no longer supported are also affected per vendor advisory.
CWE:   CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation
CVSS Source:   NVD
CVSS Base score:   9.8
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-42582
DESCRIPTION:   Netty is an asynchronous, event-driven network application framework. Prior to 4.2.13.Final, when decoding header blocks, the non-Huffman branch of io.netty.handler.codec.http3.QpackDecoder#decodeHuffmanEncodedLiteral may execute new byte[length] for a string literal before verifying that length bytes are actually present in the compressed field section. The wire encoding allows a very large length to be expressed in few bytes. There is no check that length = in.readableBytes() before new byte[length]. This vulnerability is fixed in 4.2.13.Final.
CWE:   CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
CVSS Source:   security-advisories@github.com
CVSS Base score:   7.5
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)

CVEID:   CVE-2023-53159
DESCRIPTION:   The openssl crate before 0.10.55 for Rust allows an out-of-bounds read via an empty string to X509VerifyParamRef::set_host.
CWE:   CWE-126: Buffer Over-read
CVSS Source:   NVD
CVSS Base score:   9.1
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H)

CVEID:   CVE-2025-24898
DESCRIPTION:   rust-openssl is a set of OpenSSL bindings for the Rust programming language. In affected versions `ssl::select_next_proto` can return a slice pointing into the `server` argument's buffer but with a lifetime bound to the `client` argument. In situations where the `sever` buffer's lifetime is shorter than the `client` buffer's, this can cause a use after free. This could cause the server to crash or to return arbitrary memory contents to the client. The crate`openssl` version 0.10.70 fixes the signature of `ssl::select_next_proto` to properly constrain the output buffer's lifetime to that of both input buffers. Users are advised to upgrade. In standard usage of `ssl::select_next_proto` in the callback passed to `SslContextBuilder::set_alpn_select_callback`, code is only affected if the `server` buffer is constructed *within* the callback.
CWE:   CWE-416: Use After Free
CVSS Source:   security-advisories@github.com
CVSS Base score:   6.3
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X)

CVEID:   CVE-2025-3416
DESCRIPTION:   A flaw was found in OpenSSL's handling of the properties argument in certain functions. This vulnerability can allow use-after-free exploitation, which may result in undefined behavior or incorrect property parsing, leading to OpenSSL treating the input as an empty string.
CWE:   CWE-416: Use After Free
CVSS Source:   secalert@redhat.com
CVSS Base score:   3.7
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-42577
DESCRIPTION:   Netty is an asynchronous, event-driven network application framework. From 4.2.0.Final to 4.2.13.Final , Netty's epoll transport fails to detect and close TCP connections that receive a RST after being half-closed, leading to stale channels that are never cleaned up and, in some code paths, a 100% CPU busy-loop in the event loop thread. This vulnerability is fixed in 4.2.13.Final.
CWE:   CWE-772: Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime
CVSS Source:   security-advisories@github.com
CVSS Base score:   7.5
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-40973
DESCRIPTION:   A local attacker on the same host as the application may be able to take control of the directory used by `ApplicationTemp`. When `server.servlet.session.persistent` is set to `true` and the attack persists across application restarts, this may allow the attacker to read session information and hijack authenticated users or deploy a gadget chain and execute code as the application's user. Affected: Spring Boot 4.0.0–4.0.5 (fix 4.0.6), 3.5.0–3.5.13 (fix 3.5.14), 3.4.0–3.4.15 (fix 3.4.16), 3.3.0–3.3.18 (fix 3.3.19), 2.7.0–2.7.32 (fix 2.7.33); predictable temp directory / `ApplicationTemp` ownership verification. Versions that are no longer supported are also affected per vendor advisory.
CWE:   CWE-377: Insecure Temporary File
CVSS Source:   security@vmware.com
CVSS Base score:   7
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-40975
DESCRIPTION:   Values produced by ${random.value} are not suitable for use as secrets. ${random.uuid} is not affected. ${random.int} and ${random.long} should never be used for secrets as they are numeric values with a predictable range. Affected: Spring Boot 4.0.0–4.0.5 (fix 4.0.6), 3.5.0–3.5.13 (fix 3.5.14), 3.4.0–3.4.15 (fix 3.4.16), 3.3.0–3.3.18 (fix 3.3.19), 2.7.0–2.7.32 (fix 2.7.33); random value property source / weak PRNG for secrets. Versions that are no longer supported are also affected per vendor advisory.
CWE:   CWE-330: Use of Insufficiently Random Values
CVSS Source:   NVD
CVSS Base score:   7.5
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-40977
DESCRIPTION:   When an application is configured to use `ApplicationPidFileWriter`, a local attacker with write access to the PID file's location can corrupt one file on the host each time the application is started. Affected: Spring Boot 4.0.0–4.0.5 (fix 4.0.6), 3.5.0–3.5.13 (fix 3.5.14), 3.4.0–3.4.15 (fix 3.4.16), 3.3.0–3.3.18 (fix 3.3.19), 2.7.0–2.7.32 (fix 2.7.33); PID file / symlink behavior (`ApplicationPidFileWriter`). Versions that are no longer supported are also affected per vendor advisory.
CWE:   CWE-59: Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')
CVSS Source:   NVD
CVSS Base score:   6.7
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-22731
DESCRIPTION:   Spring Boot applications with Actuator can be vulnerable to an "Authentication Bypass" vulnerability when an application endpoint that requires authentication is declared under a specific path, already configured for a Health Group additional path. This issue affects Spring Boot: from 4.0 before 4.0.3, from 3.5 before 3.5.11, from 3.4 before 3.4.15. This CVE is similar but not equivalent to CVE-2026-22733, as the conditions for exploit and vulnerable versions are different.
CWE:   CWE-288: Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel
CVSS Source:   NVD
CVSS Base score:   8.1
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-22733
DESCRIPTION:   Spring Boot applications with Actuator can be vulnerable to an "Authentication Bypass" vulnerability when an application endpoint that requires authentication is declared under the path used by the CloudFoundry Actuator endpoints. This issue affects Spring Security: from 4.0.0 through 4.0.3, from 3.5.0 through 3.5.11, from 3.4.0 through 3.4.14, from 3.3.0 through 3.3.17, from 2.7.0 through 2.7.31.
CWE:   CWE-288: Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel
CVSS Source:   NVD
CVSS Base score:   8.1
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-42580
DESCRIPTION:   Netty is an asynchronous, event-driven network application framework. Prior to 4.2.13.Final and 4.1.133.Final, Netty's chunk size parser silently overflows int, enabling request smuggling attacks. This vulnerability is fixed in 4.2.13.Final and 4.1.133.Final.
CWE:   CWE-190: Integer Overflow or Wraparound
CVSS Source:   security-advisories@github.com
CVSS Base score:   6.5
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-42581
DESCRIPTION:   Netty is an asynchronous, event-driven network application framework. Prior to 4.2.13.Final and 4.1.133.Final, HttpObjectDecoder strips a conflicting Content-Length header when a request carries both Transfer-Encoding: chunked and Content-Length, but only for HTTP/1.1 messages. The guard is absent for HTTP/1.0. An attacker that sends an HTTP/1.0 request with both headers causes Netty to decode the body as chunked while leaving Content-Length intact in the forwarded HttpMessage. Any downstream proxy or handler that trusts Content-Length over Transfer-Encoding will disagree on message boundaries, enabling request smuggling. This vulnerability is fixed in 4.2.13.Final and 4.1.133.Final.
CWE:   CWE-444: Inconsistent Interpretation of HTTP Requests ('HTTP Request/Response Smuggling')
CVSS Source:   NVD
CVSS Base score:   9.8
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-42584
DESCRIPTION:   Netty is an asynchronous, event-driven network application framework. Prior to 4.2.13.Final and 4.1.133.Final, HttpClientCodec pairs each inbound response with an outbound request by queue.poll() once per response, including for 1xx. If the client pipelines GET then HEAD and the server sends 103, then 200 with GET body, then 200 for HEAD, the queue pairs HEAD with the first 200. The HEAD rule then skips reading that message’s body, so the GET entity bytes stay on the stream and the following 200 is parsed from the wrong offset. This vulnerability is fixed in 4.2.13.Final and 4.1.133.Final.
CWE:   CWE-444: Inconsistent Interpretation of HTTP Requests ('HTTP Request/Response Smuggling')
CVSS Source:   NVD
CVSS Base score:   9.1
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-42585
DESCRIPTION:   Netty is an asynchronous, event-driven network application framework. Prior to 4.2.13.Final and 4.1.133.Final, Netty incorrectly parses malformed Transfer-Encoding, enabling request smuggling attacks. This vulnerability is fixed in 4.2.13.Final and 4.1.133.Final.
CWE:   CWE-444: Inconsistent Interpretation of HTTP Requests ('HTTP Request/Response Smuggling')
CVSS Source:   NVD
CVSS Base score:   7.5
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-42587
DESCRIPTION:   Netty is an asynchronous, event-driven network application framework. Prior to 4.2.13.Final and 4.1.133.Final, HttpContentDecompressor accepts a maxAllocation parameter to limit decompression buffer size and prevent decompression bomb attacks. This limit is correctly enforced for gzip and deflate encodings via ZlibDecoder, but is silently ignored when the content encoding is br (Brotli), zstd, or snappy. An attacker can bypass the configured decompression limit by sending a compressed payload with Content-Encoding: br instead of Content-Encoding: gzip, causing unbounded memory allocation and out-of-memory denial of service. The same vulnerability exists in DelegatingDecompressorFrameListener for HTTP/2 connections. This vulnerability is fixed in 4.2.13.Final and 4.1.133.Final.
CWE:   CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
CVSS Source:   security-advisories@github.com
CVSS Base score:   7.5
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-35554
DESCRIPTION:   A race condition in the Apache Kafka Java producer client’s buffer pool management can cause messages to be silently delivered to incorrect topics. When a produce batch expires due to delivery.timeout.ms while a network request containing that batch is still in flight, the batch’s ByteBuffer is prematurely deallocated and returned to the buffer pool. If a subsequent producer batch—potentially destined for a different topic—reuses this freed buffer before the original network request completes, the buffer contents may become corrupted. This can result in messages being delivered to unintended topics without any error being reported to the producer. Data Confidentiality: Messages intended for one topic may be delivered to a different topic, potentially exposing sensitive data to consumers who have access to the destination topic but not the intended source topic. Data Integrity: Consumers on the receiving topic may encounter unexpected or incompatible messages, leading to deserialization failures, processing errors, and corrupted downstream data. This issue affects Apache Kafka versions ≤ 3.9.1, ≤ 4.0.1, and  ≤ 4.1.1. Kafka users are advised to upgrade to 3.9.2, 4.0.2, 4.1.2, 4.2.0, or later to address this vulnerability.
CWE:   CWE-362: Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')
CVSS Source:   CISA ADP
CVSS Base score:   8.7
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-42579
DESCRIPTION:   Netty is an asynchronous, event-driven network application framework. Prior to 4.2.13.Final and 4.1.133.Final, Netty's DNS codec does not enforce RFC 1035 domain name constraints during either encoding or decoding. This creates a bidirectional attack surface: malicious DNS responses can exploit the decoder, and user-influenced hostnames can exploit the encoder. This vulnerability is fixed in 4.2.13.Final and 4.1.133.Final.
CWE:   CWE-20: Improper Input Validation
CVSS Source:   NVD
CVSS Base score:   9.1
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H)

CVEID:   CVE-2021-45707
DESCRIPTION:   An issue was discovered in the nix crate 0.16.0 and later before 0.20.2, 0.21.x before 0.21.2, and 0.22.x before 0.22.2 for Rust. unistd::getgrouplist has an out-of-bounds write if a user is in more than 16 /etc/groups groups.
CWE:   CWE-787: Out-of-bounds Write
CVSS Source:   IBM X-Force
CVSS Base score:   9.8
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)

IBM X-Force ID:   261774
DESCRIPTION:   Rust atty crate could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the system, caused by an unaligned read flaw. By sending a specially crafted request, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code on the system.
CWE:   CWE-822: Untrusted Pointer Dereference
CVSS Source:   IBM X-Force
CVSS Base score:   9.8
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)

ID:   WS-2026-0003
DESCRIPTION:   The non-blocking (async) JSON parser in jackson-core bypasses the maxNumberLength constraint (default: 1000 characters) defined in StreamReadConstraints. This allows an attacker to send JSON with arbitrarily long numbers through the async parser API, leading to excessive memory allocation and potential CPU exhaustion, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS). The standard synchronous parser correctly enforces this limit, but the async parser fails to do so, creating an inconsistent enforcement policy.
CVSS Source:   Mend
CVSS Base score:   7.5
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)

IBM X-Force ID:   251125
DESCRIPTION:   Rust openssl crate is vulnerable to a denial of service, caused by a NULL pointer dereference flaw in the openssl X509Extension::new and X509Extension::new_nid function. By persuading a victim to open a specially crafted content, a remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to cause a denial of service condition.
CWE:   CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference
CVSS Source:   IBM X-Force
CVSS Base score:   5.5
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)

IBM X-Force ID:   251127
DESCRIPTION:   Rust openssl crate is vulnerable to a denial of service, caused by an issue with the returned object is not thread safe in the openssl X509NameBuilder::build function. By persuading a victim to open a specially crafted content, a remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to cause a denial of service condition.
CWE:   CWE-543: Use of Singleton Pattern Without Synchronization in a Multithreaded Context
CVSS Source:   IBM X-Force
CVSS Base score:   5.5
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)

IBM X-Force ID:   251128
DESCRIPTION:   Rust openssl crate could allow a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information, caused by improper validation the SubjectAlternativeName and ExtendedKeyUsage arguments passed to the X509V3_EXT_nconf function. By sending a specially crafted request, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability to read arbitrary files, and use this information to launch further attacks against the affected system.
CWE:   CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
CVSS Source:   IBM X-Force
CVSS Base score:   7.5
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N)

IBM X-Force ID:   258716
DESCRIPTION:   Rust openssl crate is vulnerable to a denial of service, caused by a buffer over-read flaw in the X509VerifyParamRef::set_host function. By persuading a victim to open a specially crafted content, a remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to cause a denial of service condition.
CWE:   CWE-126: Buffer Over-read
CVSS Source:   IBM X-Force
CVSS Base score:   5.5
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)

IBM X-Force ID:   257361
DESCRIPTION:   Rust owning_ref crate could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the system, caused by a use-after-free flaw due to multiple soundness issues. By persuading a victim to open a specially crafted content, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service condition.
CWE:   CWE-416: Use After Free
CVSS Source:   IBM X-Force
CVSS Base score:   8.8
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)

IBM X-Force ID:   221511
DESCRIPTION:   thread_local crate for Rust could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the system, caused by the use of a weaker memory ordering when loading values than what was required in {Iter, IterMut}::next. By sending a specially-crafted request, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code on the system.
CWE:   CWE-94: Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')
CVSS Source:   IBM X-Force
CVSS Base score:   8.1
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)