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

Summary

CVECVE-2026-50020
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerGitHub_M
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-06-12 16:16:31 UTC
Updated2026-06-12 17:16:24 UTC
DescriptionNetty 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.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 5.3 MEDIUM from [email protected]

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

Problem Types: CWE-444 | CWE-444 CWE-444: Inconsistent Interpretation of HTTP Requests ('HTTP Request/Response Smuggling')


VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.1[email protected]Secondary5.3MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
3.1CNADECLARED5.3MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

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

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Netty Netty affected >= 4.2.0.Final, < 4.2.15.Final Not specified
CNA Netty Netty affected < 4.1.135.Final Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-hvcg-qmg6-jm4c 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 github.com
github.com/netty/netty/releases/tag/netty-4.1.135.Final [email protected] github.com
github.com/netty/netty/releases/tag/netty-4.2.15.Final [email protected] github.com
CVE Program record CVE.ORG www.cve.org canonical
NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis
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