nghttp2 Denial of service: Assertion failure due to the missing state validation

nghttp2 is an implementation of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol version 2 in C. Prior to version 1.68.1, the nghttp2 library stops reading the incoming data when user facing public API `nghttp2_session_terminate_session` or `nghttp2_session_terminate_session2` is called by the application. They might be called internally by the library when it detects the situation that is subject to connection error. Due to the missing internal state validation, the library keeps reading the rest of the data after one of those APIs is called. Then receiving a malformed frame that causes FRAME_SIZE_ERROR causes assertion failure. nghttp2 v1.68.1 adds missing state validation to avoid assertion failure. No known workarounds are available.

Reading unbounded number of HTTP/2 CONTINUATION frames to cause excessive CPU usage

nghttp2 is an implementation of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol version 2 in C. The nghttp2 library prior to version 1.61.0 keeps reading the unbounded number of HTTP/2 CONTINUATION frames even after a stream is reset to keep HPACK context in sync. This causes excessive CPU usage to decode HPACK stream. nghttp2 v1.61.0 mitigates this vulnerability by limiting the number of CONTINUATION frames it accepts per stream. There is no workaround for this vulnerability.

Envoy vulnerable to HTTP/2 memory leak in nghttp2 codec

Envoy is a cloud-native high-performance edge/middle/service proxy. Envoy’s HTTP/2 codec may leak a header map and bookkeeping structures upon receiving `RST_STREAM` immediately followed by the `GOAWAY` frames from an upstream server. In nghttp2, cleanup of pending requests due to receipt of the `GOAWAY` frame skips de-allocation of the bookkeeping structure and pending compressed header. The error return [code path] is taken if connection is already marked for not sending more requests due to `GOAWAY` frame. The clean-up code is right after the return statement, causing memory leak. Denial of service through memory exhaustion. This vulnerability was patched in versions(s) 1.26.3, 1.25.8, 1.24.9, 1.23.11.

HTTP/2: Multiple HTTP/2 enabled web servers are vulnerable to a DDoS attack (Rapid Reset Attack)

The HTTP/2 protocol allows a denial of service (server resource consumption) because request cancellation can reset many streams quickly, as exploited in the wild in August through October 2023.

nghttp2 nghttpx - HTTP Request/Response Smuggling via Upgrade Request with Content-Length

nghttp2's nghttpx proxy through 1.69.0 forwards an HTTP/1.1 Upgrade request that also carries a Content-Length header and body onto reusable keep-alive backend connections, re-adding the Upgrade and Connection headers while passing Content-Length verbatim. A backend that resolves the resulting ambiguous message in the attacker's favor enables HTTP request/response smuggling and cross-client response-queue poisoning.

nghttp2: Null pointer dereference when too large ALTSVC frame is received

nghttp2 version >= 1.10.0 and nghttp2 <= v1.31.0 contains an Improper Input Validation CWE-20 vulnerability in ALTSVC frame handling that can result in segmentation fault leading to denial of service. This attack appears to be exploitable via network client. This vulnerability appears to have been fixed in >= 1.31.1.

Denial of service in nghttp2

In nghttp2 before version 1.41.0, the overly large HTTP/2 SETTINGS frame payload causes denial of service. The proof of concept attack involves a malicious client constructing a SETTINGS frame with a length of 14,400 bytes (2400 individual settings entries) over and over again. The attack causes the CPU to spike at 100%. nghttp2 v1.41.0 fixes this vulnerability. There is a workaround to this vulnerability. Implement nghttp2_on_frame_recv_callback callback, and if received frame is SETTINGS frame and the number of settings entries are large (e.g., > 32), then drop the connection.

The idle stream handling in nghttp2 before 1.6.0 allows attackers to have unspecified impact via unknown vectors, aka a heap-use-after-free bug.

nghttp2: out of memory error due to unlimited incoming HTTP header fields

nghttp2 before 1.7.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory exhaustion).