Anthropic and Google Researchers Uncover Critical RCE Flaw in Apache HTTP Server
Anthropic and Google Cloud researchers have independently discovered a critical remote code execution vulnerability in the Apache HTTP Server's HTTP/2 module, affecting a significant portion of cloud environments.
🏢Big TechPhoto: Hacker News Front Page
Key points
- Anthropic and Google Cloud researchers independently found a critical race condition flaw in Apache HTTP Server's HTTP/2 module.
- CVE-2026-119618 allows potential remote code execution via heap memory corruption, affecting a majority of unmitigated cloud environments according to Wiz data.
- Remediation requires upgrading to Apache version 2.4.71 or disabling HTTP/2 protocol support entirely.
A severe synchronization flaw, designated as CVE-2026-119618, has been uncovered within the Apache HTTP Server's HTTP/2 module, known as mod_http2. The vulnerability was jointly and independently identified by researchers from Anthropic and Google Cloud's Vulnerability Research Team. The security issue originates from a concurrent execution race condition inside the assign_headers() function when processing shared resources, potentially leading to heap memory corruption.
If successfully leveraged by an unauthenticated remote attacker, this memory corruption can result in arbitrary code execution on the target server. Data from Wiz indicates that 64 percent of cloud environments harbor resources vulnerable to this flaw, with 51 percent featuring publicly exposed instances, though these figures do not factor in specific server configurations. Currently, no active exploits or field attacks have been documented.
Administrators and security engineering teams are advised to upgrade their Apache installations to version 2.4.71 or newer to resolve the race condition. Alternatively, environments unable to patch immediately can temporarily mitigate the risk by disabling HTTP/2 support and restricting protocols to HTTP/1.1 in their configuration files.
What to watch next: Monitor for upcoming adoption rates of Apache version 2.4.71 and potential automated scanning activity targeting unpatched HTTP/2 endpoints.
Source Hacker News Front Page — wiz.io/blog/cve-2026-119618-rce-apache-http-server-vulnerability ↗
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