---
id: CVE-2026-94625
title: >-
  vLLM through 0.29.0 contains a resource exhaustion vulnerability in
  MooncakeConnector where rejected prefill requests create ownerless transfer
  placeholders that are never reclaimed
summary: >-
  vLLM through 0.29.0 contains a resource exhaustion vulnerability in
  MooncakeConnector where rejected prefill requests create ownerless transfer
  placeholders that are never reclaimed. Attackers can send rejected requests to
  exhaust sender…
severity: medium
cvss: 5.3
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L'
cwe:
  - CWE-772
vendor: vllm-project
product: vllm
affected:
  - vllm <= 0.29.0
published: '2026-09-21'
updated: '2026-09-23'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-23T15:17:30.077'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-94625'
references:
  - url: 'https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm'
    label: disclosure@vulncheck.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm/blob/v0.29.0/vllm/distributed/kv_transfer/kv_connector/v1/mooncake/mooncake_connector.py#L1234-L1242
    label: disclosure@vulncheck.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm/pull/51236'
    label: disclosure@vulncheck.com
  - url: >-
      https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/vllm-through-0.29.0-resource-exhaustion-via-ownerless-mooncake-transfer-placeholders
    label: disclosure@vulncheck.com
  - url: >-
      https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-94625.json
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-94625'
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2538868'
  - url: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-94625'
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-94625'
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
  - csaf
  - vex
  - red-hat
  - score-dispute
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'yes'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-09-23T15:09:07.861181Z'
epss: 0.00524
epssPercentile: 0.41991
scores:
  nvd: 5.3
  vendor: 7.5
ingestedAt: '2026-09-21T22:54:37.973Z'
---

## Overview

vLLM through 0.29.0 contains a resource exhaustion vulnerability in MooncakeConnector where rejected prefill requests create ownerless transfer placeholders that are never reclaimed. Attackers can send rejected requests to exhaust sender task pools, causing valid requests to be delayed by up to 480 seconds while health checks continue returning success.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

## Vendor advisories

- **Red Hat VEX** · Important · affected: Red Hat AI Inference Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI) 3, Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI) · no fix planned: Red Hat AI Inference Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI) 3, Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI) · updated 2026-09-24 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-94625.json)