Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessReach ATS with prefetch plugin enabled
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DeliverySend crafted request with malicious input
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ExploitPrefetch plugin fails input validation (CWE-20)
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ExecutionProcess crashes
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ImpactService denial to legitimate clients
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A05:2025 - Injection
ASVS 5.0
V2 - Validation and Business Logic Input validation, allowlisting
|
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires that the target Apache Traffic Server has the prefetch plugin loaded and processing requests - this is the concrete prerequisite reflected by the CVSS 4.0 AT:P (attack requirements present) metric and the description's explicit reference to the prefetch plugin. Given AV:N/PR:N/UI:N, no authentication and no user interaction are otherwise needed once the plugin is active, only network reachability. The primary limiting factor is that prefetch is an optional, non-default plugin: ATS instances that do not load it are not exposed. Affected versions are 8.0.0-8.1.9, 9.0.0-9.2.14, and 10.0.0-10.1.3. |
| Impact | The signals are largely consistent and point to a real but availability-only risk. The CVSS 4.0 vector (AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H) indicates a remote, unauthenticated, low-complexity attack that carries a specific attack requirement (AT:P) and impacts only availability at high severity, yielding the 8.2 score. The AT:P metric together with the description implies the prefetch plugin must be enabled and reachable, which meaningfully narrows the exposed population below what the raw score suggests. No EPSS value was provided, the flaw is not in CISA KEV, and no POC is referenced, so there is no evidence of active or imminent exploitation. Net: prioritize for internet-facing ATS deployments that load the prefetch plugin, but treat non-prefetch deployments as effectively not exposed. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker sends crafted requests to an internet-facing Apache Traffic Server instance that has the prefetch plugin enabled, supplying malformed input the plugin fails to validate. The plugin crashes the ATS process, dropping in-flight connections and denying cache/proxy service to legitimate users. No authentication or user interaction is required, and the low attack complexity makes repeated crashing feasible, though the prefetch plugin must be in use to reach the vulnerable code. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv2 – Jul 29, 2026
Denial of service in Apache Traffic Server's prefetch plugin allows remote attackers to crash the caching proxy by supplying malicious input that the plugin fails to validate. Affected releases span the 8.x (8.0.0-8.1.9), 9.x (9.0.0-9.2.14), and 10.x (10.0.0-10.1.3) branches, and exploitation impacts only availability with no data exposure or code execution. There is no public exploit identified at time of analysis, and the flaw is not listed in CISA KEV; the vendor-assigned CVSS 4.0 base score is 8.2.
Earlier versions of this analysis (1)
Crash-inducing input validation failure in the Apache Traffic Server prefetch plugin allows remote unauthenticated attackers to cause a denial of service across three major release branches (8.x, 9.x, 10.x). The CVSS vector (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N) confirms network-reachable exploitation without authentication, though high attack complexity limits opportunistic triggering. No active exploitation confirmed (not in CISA KEV) and no public exploit code identified at time of analysis. Fixed versions 9.2.15 and 10.1.4 are available from the Apache Software Foundation.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: upgrade to Apache Traffic Server 9.2.15 (for the 9.x branch) or 10.1.4 (for the 10.x branch), as directed in the Apache advisory (https://lists.apache.org/thread/5prl9glcm9g2swnq9hqxvnokylm1gr6d); note the end-of-life 8.x branch has no fixed release listed, so 8.x users should migrate to a supported patched branch. If immediate patching is not possible, the most direct compensating control is to unload or disable the prefetch plugin in the remap/plugin configuration, which removes the vulnerable code path at the cost of losing prefetch cache-warming behavior. Alternatively, restrict which clients and upstreams can reach prefetch-enabled remap rules via network ACLs or a fronting WAF to limit exposure to attacker-influenced input, accepting that this narrows but does not fully eliminate reachability.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
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Technical ContextAI · show details
Apache Traffic Server (ATS) is a high-performance HTTP caching proxy and reverse proxy used at CDN and edge scale. The vulnerability lives in the optional prefetch plugin, which speculatively fetches related objects to warm the cache. The root cause is classified as CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation): the plugin processes attacker-influenced input without adequately validating it, causing the ATS process to crash. Because the CPE only identifies the product generically (cpe:2.3:a:apache_software_foundation:apache_traffic_server:*), the version scoping must come from the advisory and EUVD version ranges rather than from the CPE string itself.
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Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Remote unauthenticated DoS, but the optional prefetch plugin must be enabled to reach the code path (an attack requirement), so AC:H; availability-only impact gives A:H with C:N/I:N.
Primary rating from Vendor (apache).
CVSS VectorVendor: apache
Lifecycle Timeline
4DescriptionCVE.org
The Apache Traffic Server prefetch plugin can crash when processing attacker-influenced input.
This issue affects Apache Traffic Server: from 8.0.0 through 8.1.9, from 9.0.0 through 9.2.14, from 10.0.0 through 10.1.3.
Users are recommended to upgrade to version 9.2.15 or 10.1.4, which fix the issue.
Executive ViewAI
Apache Traffic Server's prefetch plugin contains a high-severity denial of service vulnerability affecting caching proxy deployments in versions 8.0.0-8.1.9, 9.0.0-9.2.14, and 10.0.0-10.1.3. While no public exploit identified at time of analysis, the vulnerability remains a service availability risk; no vendor patch is currently available, requiring interim protective measures.
No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis. Interim mitigations: disable prefetch plugin; implement input validation and filtering at network perimeter; restrict prefetch functionality to trusted internal sources; deploy connection rate-limiting and request validation controls.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
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Memory corruption in Apache Traffic Server's remap configuration handling lets remote attackers trigger a use-after-free
EUVD-2026-50228
GHSA-5gc7-q59c-j3fj
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB