Inconsistent interpretation of `Content-Length` vs. `Transfer-Encoding` in aiohttp
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- Low · Low · None
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and GitHub.
Summary
aiohttp is an asynchronous HTTP client/server framework for asyncio and Python. Affected versions of aiohttp have a security vulnerability regarding the inconsistent interpretation of the http protocol. HTTP/1.1 is a persistent protocol, if both Content-Length(CL) and Transfer-Encoding(TE) header values are present it can lead to incorrect interpretation of two entities that parse the HTTP and we can poison other sockets with this incorrect interpretation. A possible Proof-of-Concept (POC) would be a configuration with a reverse proxy(frontend) that accepts both CL and TE headers and aiohttp as backend. As aiohttp parses anything with chunked, we can pass a chunked123 as TE, the frontend entity will ignore this header and will parse Content-Length. The impact of this vulnerability is that it is possible to bypass any proxy rule, poisoning sockets to other users like passing Authentication Headers, also if it is present an Open Redirect an attacker could combine it to redirect random users to another website and log the request. This vulnerability has been addressed in release 3.8.0 of aiohttp. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| aio-libs | aiohttp | before 3.8.0 | 3.8.0 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | aiohttp (PyPI) | before 3.8.0 | 3.8.0 | Patch available | GHSA-xx9p-xxvh-7g8j |
- aiohttp Vendoraio-libs Affected before 3.8.0 Fixed in 3.8.0 Patch available CNA
- aiohttp (PyPI) Vendor— Affected before 3.8.0 Fixed in 3.8.0 Patch available GHSA-xx9p-xxvh-7g8j
Remediation
- Fix · CNA aiohttp (aio-libs) Fixed in 3.8.0
- Fix · GHSA-xx9p-xxvh-7g8j aiohttp (PyPI) Fixed in 3.8.0 Advisory →
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
Not affected: 3 products
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2
- Red Hat Satellite 6
- Red Hat Update Infrastructure 4 for Cloud Providers
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-47641
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-xx9p-xxvh-7g8j
References
More aio-libs vulnerabilities
- TI-2025-38826 aiomysql allows arbitrary access to client files through vulnerability of a malicious MySQL server CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.2
- TI-2024-15436 aiohttp.web.static(follow_symlinks=True) is vulnerable to directory traversal CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2023-25769 Request smuggling in aiohttp CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2023-18906 aiohttp vulnerable to HTTP request smuggling CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2023-26746 aiohttp's ClientSession is vulnerable to CRLF injection via version CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.2
- TI-2026-66145 Multidict: Reference leak in CIMultiDict/MultiDict items-view union and subtraction CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.3
Sources
- CVE-2023-47641 · CVE Program
- CVE-2023-47641 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-xx9p-xxvh-7g8j · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2023-47641 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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