Vulnerability-Lookup

GHSA-HVCG-QMG6-JM4C

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-06-15 20:46 – Updated: 2026-06-15 20:46

Summary

Netty: HttpObjectDecoder skips arbitrary initial control characters when only initial CRLF characters are permitted

Details

Summary

Before reading the first request-line, HttpObjectDecoder skips every byte for which Character.isISOControl(b) is true (0x00–0x1F and 0x7F) as well as all whitespace. RFC 9112 §2.2 only asks servers to ignore empty CRLF lines preceding the request-line — a carefully scoped robustness allowance intended to handle HTTP/1.0 POST workarounds. Silently absorbing NUL bytes, SOH, STX, and other non-CRLF control characters goes significantly beyond this, and can be exploited for request-boundary confusion in pipelined or multiplexed transports where a front-end component treats those bytes differently.

Affected Code

File	Lines	Role
`codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpObjectDecoder.java`	1298–1313	`ISO_CONTROL_OR_WHITESPACE` static initialiser — marks all ISO control chars
`codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpObjectDecoder.java`	1307–1313	`SKIP_CONTROL_CHARS_BYTES` `ByteProcessor` — skips the entire set
`codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpObjectDecoder.java`	1275–1289	`LineParser.skipControlChars` — advances `readerIndex` past all matching bytes

Specification Analysis

RFC 9112 §2.2 — Message Parsing

In the interest of robustness, a server that is expecting to receive and parse a request-line SHOULD ignore at least one empty line (CRLF) received prior to the request-line.

An HTTP/1.1 user agent MUST NOT preface or follow a request with an extra CRLF.

Deviation

The RFC names a single permitted exception: an empty line (bare CRLF, i.e. the two-byte sequence \r\n). The ISO_CONTROL_OR_WHITESPACE table is initialised as:

for (byte b = Byte.MIN_VALUE; b < Byte.MAX_VALUE; b++) {
    ISO_CONTROL_OR_WHITESPACE[128 + b] =
        Character.isISOControl(b) || isWhitespace(b);
}

Character.isISOControl returns true for 0x00–0x1F and 0x7F. This includes NUL (0x00), SOH (0x01), STX (0x02), BEL (0x07), DEL (0x7F), and every other non-CRLF control character. The SKIP_CONTROL_CHARS state runs this scan unconditionally before the first READ_INITIAL, meaning any sequence of such bytes prepended to a request is silently consumed.

A load balancer or TLS terminator that does not perform the same scan sees a different message boundary than Netty does, which is the basis of a request-desync / smuggling attack.

Suggested Unit Test

Add to HttpRequestDecoderTest.java.

@Test
public void testNonCrlfControlBytesPrecedingRequestLineAreRejected() {
    // RFC 9112 §2.2: servers SHOULD ignore "at least one empty line (CRLF)" before the
    // request-line.  Non-CRLF control bytes are not part of this robustness allowance
    // and must not be silently swallowed.
    EmbeddedChannel channel = new EmbeddedChannel(new HttpRequestDecoder());

    ByteBuf buf = Unpooled.buffer();
    buf.writeByte(0x00);   // NUL  — not an empty CRLF line
    buf.writeByte(0x01);   // SOH  — not an empty CRLF line
    buf.writeCharSequence(
            "GET / HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: example.com\r\n\r\n",
            CharsetUtil.US_ASCII);

    channel.writeInbound(buf);
    HttpRequest req = channel.readInbound();

    // Current behaviour: NUL and SOH are in ISO_CONTROL_OR_WHITESPACE, so they are
    // silently skipped; the request decodes successfully and isFailure() == false.
    //
    // RFC-correct behaviour: only empty CRLF lines should be ignored; NUL/SOH must
    // cause a parse error — isFailure() == true.
    assertTrue(
            req.decoderResult().isFailure(),
            "Non-CRLF control bytes before the request-line must not be silently skipped " +
            "(RFC 9112 §2.2 allows only empty CRLF lines)");

    assertFalse(channel.finish());
}

Current behaviour (unfixed): skipControlChars advances past 0x00 and 0x01 because both are in ISO_CONTROL_OR_WHITESPACE; the request parses normally, isFailure() is false → test fails.

Expected behaviour after fix: only CRLF empty lines are tolerated; non-CRLF control bytes produce an error, isFailure() is true → test passes.

Severity

5.3 (Medium)


                  
                    CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

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{
  "affected": [
    {
      "database_specific": {
        "last_known_affected_version_range": "\u003c= 4.2.14.Final"
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Maven",
        "name": "io.netty:netty-codec-http"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "4.2.0.Final"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "4.2.15.Final"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "database_specific": {
        "last_known_affected_version_range": "\u003c= 4.1.134.Final"
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Maven",
        "name": "io.netty:netty-codec-http"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "4.1.135.Final"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2026-50020"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-444"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": true,
    "github_reviewed_at": "2026-06-15T20:46:36Z",
    "nvd_published_at": "2026-06-12T16:16:31Z",
    "severity": "MODERATE"
  },
  "details": "## Summary\n\nBefore reading the first request-line, `HttpObjectDecoder` skips every byte for which\n`Character.isISOControl(b)` is `true` (0x00\u20130x1F and 0x7F) as well as all whitespace.\nRFC 9112 \u00a72.2 only asks servers to ignore **empty CRLF lines** preceding the request-line \u2014\na carefully scoped robustness allowance intended to handle HTTP/1.0 POST workarounds.\nSilently absorbing NUL bytes, SOH, STX, and other non-CRLF control characters goes\nsignificantly beyond this, and can be exploited for request-boundary confusion in pipelined\nor multiplexed transports where a front-end component treats those bytes differently.\n\n## Affected Code\n\n| File | Lines | Role |\n|------|-------|------|\n| `codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpObjectDecoder.java` | 1298\u20131313 | `ISO_CONTROL_OR_WHITESPACE` static initialiser \u2014 marks all ISO control chars |\n| `codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpObjectDecoder.java` | 1307\u20131313 | `SKIP_CONTROL_CHARS_BYTES` `ByteProcessor` \u2014 skips the entire set |\n| `codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpObjectDecoder.java` | 1275\u20131289 | `LineParser.skipControlChars` \u2014 advances `readerIndex` past all matching bytes |\n\n## Specification Analysis\n\n### RFC 9112 \u00a72.2 \u2014 Message Parsing\n\n\u003e In the interest of robustness, a server that is expecting to receive and parse a\n\u003e request-line **SHOULD ignore at least one empty line (CRLF)** received prior to the\n\u003e request-line.\n\n\u003e An HTTP/1.1 user agent **MUST NOT** preface or follow a request with an extra CRLF.\n\n### Deviation\n\nThe RFC names a single permitted exception: an **empty line** (bare CRLF, i.e. the two-byte\nsequence `\\r\\n`).  The `ISO_CONTROL_OR_WHITESPACE` table is initialised as:\n\n```java\nfor (byte b = Byte.MIN_VALUE; b \u003c Byte.MAX_VALUE; b++) {\n    ISO_CONTROL_OR_WHITESPACE[128 + b] =\n        Character.isISOControl(b) || isWhitespace(b);\n}\n```\n\n`Character.isISOControl` returns `true` for `0x00`\u2013`0x1F` and `0x7F`.  This includes NUL\n(`0x00`), SOH (`0x01`), STX (`0x02`), BEL (`0x07`), DEL (`0x7F`), and every other non-CRLF\ncontrol character.  The `SKIP_CONTROL_CHARS` state runs this scan unconditionally before the\nfirst `READ_INITIAL`, meaning any sequence of such bytes prepended to a request is silently\nconsumed.\n\nA load balancer or TLS terminator that does not perform the same scan sees a different\nmessage boundary than Netty does, which is the basis of a request-desync / smuggling attack.\n\n## Suggested Unit Test\n\nAdd to `HttpRequestDecoderTest.java`.\n\n```java\n@Test\npublic void testNonCrlfControlBytesPrecedingRequestLineAreRejected() {\n    // RFC 9112 \u00a72.2: servers SHOULD ignore \"at least one empty line (CRLF)\" before the\n    // request-line.  Non-CRLF control bytes are not part of this robustness allowance\n    // and must not be silently swallowed.\n    EmbeddedChannel channel = new EmbeddedChannel(new HttpRequestDecoder());\n\n    ByteBuf buf = Unpooled.buffer();\n    buf.writeByte(0x00);   // NUL  \u2014 not an empty CRLF line\n    buf.writeByte(0x01);   // SOH  \u2014 not an empty CRLF line\n    buf.writeCharSequence(\n            \"GET / HTTP/1.1\\r\\nHost: example.com\\r\\n\\r\\n\",\n            CharsetUtil.US_ASCII);\n\n    channel.writeInbound(buf);\n    HttpRequest req = channel.readInbound();\n\n    // Current behaviour: NUL and SOH are in ISO_CONTROL_OR_WHITESPACE, so they are\n    // silently skipped; the request decodes successfully and isFailure() == false.\n    //\n    // RFC-correct behaviour: only empty CRLF lines should be ignored; NUL/SOH must\n    // cause a parse error \u2014 isFailure() == true.\n    assertTrue(\n            req.decoderResult().isFailure(),\n            \"Non-CRLF control bytes before the request-line must not be silently skipped \" +\n            \"(RFC 9112 \u00a72.2 allows only empty CRLF lines)\");\n\n    assertFalse(channel.finish());\n}\n```\n\n**Current behaviour (unfixed):** `skipControlChars` advances past `0x00` and `0x01` because\nboth are in `ISO_CONTROL_OR_WHITESPACE`; the request parses normally, `isFailure()` is\n`false` \u2192 test **fails**.\n\n**Expected behaviour after fix:** only CRLF empty lines are tolerated; non-CRLF control\nbytes produce an error, `isFailure()` is `true` \u2192 test **passes**.",
  "id": "GHSA-hvcg-qmg6-jm4c",
  "modified": "2026-06-15T20:46:36Z",
  "published": "2026-06-15T20:46:36Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-hvcg-qmg6-jm4c"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-50020"
    },
    {
      "type": "PACKAGE",
      "url": "https://github.com/netty/netty"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/netty/netty/releases/tag/netty-4.1.135.Final"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/netty/netty/releases/tag/netty-4.2.15.Final"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    }
  ],
  "summary": "Netty: HttpObjectDecoder skips arbitrary initial control characters when only initial CRLF characters are permitted"
}

CVE-2026-50020 (GCVE-0-2026-50020)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-06-12 14:55 – Updated: 2026-06-12 15:56

Title

Netty's HttpObjectDecoder skips arbitrary initial control characters when only initial CRLF characters are permitted

Summary

Netty is a network application framework for development of protocol servers and clients. Prior to versions 4.1.135.Final and 4.2.15.Final, before reading the first request-line, `HttpObjectDecoder` skips every byte for which `Character.isISOControl(b)` is `true` (0x00–0x1F and 0x7F) as well as all whitespace. RFC 9112 §2.2 only asks servers to ignore empty CRLF lines preceding the request-line — a carefully scoped robustness allowance intended to handle HTTP/1.0 POST workarounds. Silently absorbing NUL bytes, SOH, STX, and other non-CRLF control characters goes significantly beyond this, and can be exploited for request-boundary confusion in pipelined or multiplexed transports where a front-end component treats those bytes differently. Versions 4.1.135.Final and 4.2.15.Final patch the issue.

Severity

5.3 (Medium)


                        
                          CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

SSVC

Exploitation: poc Automatable: yes Technical Impact: partial

CISA Coordinator (v2.0.3)

CWE

CWE-444 - Inconsistent Interpretation of HTTP Requests ('HTTP Request/Response Smuggling')

Assigner

GitHub_M

References

3 references

URL	Tags
https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisorie…	x_refsource_CONFIRM
https://github.com/netty/netty/releases/tag/netty…	x_refsource_MISC
https://github.com/netty/netty/releases/tag/netty…	x_refsource_MISC

Impacted products

1 product

Vendor	Product	Version
netty	netty	Affected: >= 4.2.0.Final, < 4.2.15.Final Affected: < 4.1.135.Final

Show details on NVD website

JSON

To clipboard

{
  "containers": {
    "adp": [
      {
        "metrics": [
          {
            "other": {
              "content": {
                "id": "CVE-2026-50020",
                "options": [
                  {
                    "Exploitation": "poc"
                  },
                  {
                    "Automatable": "yes"
                  },
                  {
                    "Technical Impact": "partial"
                  }
                ],
                "role": "CISA Coordinator",
                "timestamp": "2026-06-12T15:56:10.783796Z",
                "version": "2.0.3"
              },
              "type": "ssvc"
            }
          }
        ],
        "providerMetadata": {
          "dateUpdated": "2026-06-12T15:56:43.051Z",
          "orgId": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
          "shortName": "CISA-ADP"
        },
        "references": [
          {
            "tags": [
              "exploit"
            ],
            "url": "https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-hvcg-qmg6-jm4c"
          }
        ],
        "title": "CISA ADP Vulnrichment"
      }
    ],
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "product": "netty",
          "vendor": "netty",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "\u003e= 4.2.0.Final, \u003c 4.2.15.Final"
            },
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "\u003c 4.1.135.Final"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "Netty is a network application framework for development of protocol servers and clients. Prior to versions 4.1.135.Final and 4.2.15.Final, before reading the first request-line, `HttpObjectDecoder` skips every byte for which `Character.isISOControl(b)` is `true` (0x00\u20130x1F and 0x7F) as well as all whitespace. RFC 9112 \u00a72.2 only asks servers to ignore empty CRLF lines preceding the request-line \u2014 a carefully scoped robustness allowance intended to handle HTTP/1.0 POST workarounds. Silently absorbing NUL bytes, SOH, STX, and other non-CRLF control characters goes significantly beyond this, and can be exploited for request-boundary confusion in pipelined or multiplexed transports where a front-end component treats those bytes differently. Versions 4.1.135.Final and 4.2.15.Final patch the issue."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV3_1": {
            "attackComplexity": "LOW",
            "attackVector": "NETWORK",
            "availabilityImpact": "NONE",
            "baseScore": 5.3,
            "baseSeverity": "MEDIUM",
            "confidentialityImpact": "NONE",
            "integrityImpact": "LOW",
            "privilegesRequired": "NONE",
            "scope": "UNCHANGED",
            "userInteraction": "NONE",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N",
            "version": "3.1"
          }
        }
      ],
      "problemTypes": [
        {
          "descriptions": [
            {
              "cweId": "CWE-444",
              "description": "CWE-444: Inconsistent Interpretation of HTTP Requests (\u0027HTTP Request/Response Smuggling\u0027)",
              "lang": "en",
              "type": "CWE"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-06-12T14:55:32.165Z",
        "orgId": "a0819718-46f1-4df5-94e2-005712e83aaa",
        "shortName": "GitHub_M"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "name": "https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-hvcg-qmg6-jm4c",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_CONFIRM"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-hvcg-qmg6-jm4c"
        },
        {
          "name": "https://github.com/netty/netty/releases/tag/netty-4.1.135.Final",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_MISC"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/netty/netty/releases/tag/netty-4.1.135.Final"
        },
        {
          "name": "https://github.com/netty/netty/releases/tag/netty-4.2.15.Final",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_MISC"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/netty/netty/releases/tag/netty-4.2.15.Final"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "advisory": "GHSA-hvcg-qmg6-jm4c",
        "discovery": "UNKNOWN"
      },
      "title": "Netty\u0027s HttpObjectDecoder skips arbitrary initial control characters when only initial CRLF characters are permitted"
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "a0819718-46f1-4df5-94e2-005712e83aaa",
    "assignerShortName": "GitHub_M",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-50020",
    "datePublished": "2026-06-12T14:55:32.165Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-06-02T22:46:02.579Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-06-12T15:56:43.051Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2"
}

Sightings

Author	Source	Type	Date	Other

Nomenclature

Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.

Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.

Action not permitted

GHSA-HVCG-QMG6-JM4C

Summary

Affected Code

Specification Analysis

RFC 9112 §2.2 — Message Parsing

Deviation

Suggested Unit Test

CVE-2026-50020 (GCVE-0-2026-50020)

Tags

Sightings

Nomenclature