CVE-2026-2229: Undici has Unhandled Exception in WebSocket Client Due to Invalid server_max_window_bits Validation

The undici WebSocket client is vulnerable to a denial-of-service attack due to improper validation of the server_max_window_bits parameter in the permessage-deflate extension. When a WebSocket client connects to a server, it automatically advertises support for permessage-deflate compression. A malicious server can respond with an out-of-range server_max_window_bits value (outside zlib’s valid range of 8-15). When the server subsequently sends a compressed frame, the client attempts to create a zlib InflateRaw instance with the invalid windowBits value, causing a synchronous RangeError exception that is not caught, resulting in immediate process termination.

The vulnerability exists because:

1. The isValidClientWindowBits() function only validates that the value contains ASCII digits, not that it falls within the valid range 8-15
2. The createInflateRaw() call is not wrapped in a try-catch block
3. The resulting exception propagates up through the call stack and crashes the Node.js process