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SQUID-2026:1 Denial of Service in ICP Request handling

Critical
yadij published GHSA-hpfx-h48q-gvwg Mar 25, 2026

Package

squid

Affected versions

<7.5

Patched versions

7.5

Description

Due to heap Use-After-Free
bug Squid is vulnerable to Denial of Service when handling
ICP traffic.

Severity:

This problem allows a remote attacker to perform
a reliable and repeatable Denial of Service attack against the
Squid service using ICP protocol.

This attack is limited to Squid deployments that explicitly
enable ICP support (i.e. configure non-zero icp_port).

This problem cannot be mitigated by denying ICP queries
using icp_access rules.

Updated Packages

These bugs were fixed in Squid version 7.5.

In addition, patches addressing this problem for the stable
releases can be found in our patch archives:

Squid 7:

8a7d42f

If you are using a prepackaged version of Squid then please
refer to the package vendor for availability information on
updated packages.

Determining if your version is vulnerable

Run the following command to identify whether your Squid
has been configured with ICP enabled:

squid -k parse 2>&1 | grep -E "(icp|udp)_port" | tail -n1

All Squid configured with port 0 are not vulnerable.

All Squid-3.0 up to and including 7.4 configured with
a non-zero port should be assumed to be vulnerable.

All Squid-3.2 up to and including 7.4 configured without
any port value can be assumed to be not vulnerable.

Workaround

Either,

  • Do not enable ICP support,

Or,

  • explicitly disable ICP using icp_port 0.

Warning: These problems cannot be mitigated by denying ICP
queries using icp_access rules.

Contact details for the Squid project:

For installation / upgrade support on binary packaged versions
of Squid: Your first point of contact should be your binary
package vendor.

If you install and build Squid from the original Squid sources
then the [email protected] mailing list is
your primary support point. For subscription details see
https://www.squid-cache.org/Support/mailing-lists.html.

For reporting of non-security bugs in the latest STABLE release
the squid bugzilla database should be used
https://bugs.squid-cache.org/.

For reporting of security sensitive bugs send an email to the
[email protected] mailing list. It's a closed
list (though anyone can post) and security related bug reports
are treated in confidence until the impact has been established.

Credits

Discovered by:

Fixed by:

  • Joshua Rogers with ZeroPath

Revision history:

2025-09-07 20:22 EDT Report of the first set of vulnerabilities
2026-01-26 08:48 EDT Report of additional vulnerabilities
2026-02-10 19:58:49 UTC official fixes in master branch

END

Severity

Critical

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector Network
Attack Complexity Low
Attack Requirements None
Privileges Required None
User interaction None
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality None
Integrity None
Availability High
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality None
Integrity None
Availability High

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector: This metric reflects the context by which vulnerability exploitation is possible. This metric value (and consequently the resulting severity) will be larger the more remote (logically, and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerable system. The assumption is that the number of potential attackers for a vulnerability that could be exploited from across a network is larger than the number of potential attackers that could exploit a vulnerability requiring physical access to a device, and therefore warrants a greater severity.
Attack Complexity: This metric captures measurable actions that must be taken by the attacker to actively evade or circumvent existing built-in security-enhancing conditions in order to obtain a working exploit. These are conditions whose primary purpose is to increase security and/or increase exploit engineering complexity. A vulnerability exploitable without a target-specific variable has a lower complexity than a vulnerability that would require non-trivial customization. This metric is meant to capture security mechanisms utilized by the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: This metric captures the prerequisite deployment and execution conditions or variables of the vulnerable system that enable the attack. These differ from security-enhancing techniques/technologies (ref Attack Complexity) as the primary purpose of these conditions is not to explicitly mitigate attacks, but rather, emerge naturally as a consequence of the deployment and execution of the vulnerable system.
Privileges Required: This metric describes the level of privileges an attacker must possess prior to successfully exploiting the vulnerability. The method by which the attacker obtains privileged credentials prior to the attack (e.g., free trial accounts), is outside the scope of this metric. Generally, self-service provisioned accounts do not constitute a privilege requirement if the attacker can grant themselves privileges as part of the attack.
User interaction: This metric captures the requirement for a human user, other than the attacker, to participate in the successful compromise of the vulnerable system. This metric determines whether the vulnerability can be exploited solely at the will of the attacker, or whether a separate user (or user-initiated process) must participate in some manner.
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the VULNERABLE SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:H

CVE ID

CVE-2026-33526

Weaknesses

Use After Free

The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory belongs to the code that operates on the new pointer. Learn more on MITRE.

Premature Release of Resource During Expected Lifetime

The product releases a resource that is still intended to be used by itself or another actor. Learn more on MITRE.

Credits