protocol-http1 HTTP Request/Response Smuggling vulnerability
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · Low · None
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 2 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat.
Summary
protocol-http1 provides a low-level implementation of the HTTP/1 protocol. RFC 9112 Section 7.1 defined the format of chunk size, chunk data and chunk extension. The value of Content-Length header should be a string of 0-9 digits, the chunk size should be a string of hex digits and should split from chunk data using CRLF, and the chunk extension shouldn't contain any invisible character. However, Falcon has following behaviors while disobey the corresponding RFCs: accepting Content-Length header values that have `+` prefix, accepting Content-Length header values that written in hexadecimal with `0x` prefix, accepting `0x` and `+` prefixed chunk size, and accepting LF in chunk extension. This behavior can lead to desync when forwarding through multiple HTTP parsers, potentially results in HTTP request smuggling and firewall bypassing. This issue is fixed in `protocol-http1` v0.15.1. There are no known workarounds.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| socketry | protocol-http1 | before 0.15.1 | 0.15.1 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | protocol-http1 (RubyGems) | before 0.15.1 | 0.15.1 | Patch available | GHSA-6jwc-qr2q-7xwj |
- protocol-http1 Vendorsocketry Affected before 0.15.1 Fixed in 0.15.1 Patch available CNA
- protocol-http1 (RubyGems) Vendor— Affected before 0.15.1 Fixed in 0.15.1 Patch available GHSA-6jwc-qr2q-7xwj
Remediation
- Fix · CNA protocol-http1 (socketry) Fixed in 0.15.1
- Fix · GHSA-6jwc-qr2q-7xwj protocol-http1 (RubyGems) Fixed in 0.15.1 Advisory →
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Logging Subsystem for Red Hat OpenShift | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat 3scale API Management Platform 2 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-38697
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-6jwc-qr2q-7xwj
References
Advisory 2
Sources
- CVE-2023-38697 · CVE Program
- CVE-2023-38697 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-6jwc-qr2q-7xwj · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2023-38697 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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