In brief: An OpenSSL vulnerability allows DoS attacks using 11-byte packets that rapidly exhaust server memory.
A security flaw in OpenSSL allows attackers to use extremely small network packets (11 bytes) to massively exhaust the RAM of servers and cause them to crash.
The vulnerability enables a resource-efficient denial-of-service attack: an attacker can consume large amounts of RAM on affected systems with minimal bandwidth expenditure. This leads to significant performance issues up to complete server outages.
For CISOs, this vulnerability is critical because it creates a very low entry barrier for DoS attacks. The attacks are difficult to block because the required packets are so small that they are hard to distinguish from legitimate data streams. Systems operating OpenSSL-based servers (such as Apache with certain configurations) are particularly affected.
Affected infrastructure should deploy OpenSSL updates promptly and strengthen network monitoring to detect unusual patterns of mini-packets. Additionally, rate limiting and load balancer configurations can contribute to mitigation.
Source: www.golem.de · Published July 20, 2026
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