Quadratic bignum parsing of Content-Length and Host port values in Bandit

Summary

Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity vulnerability in the header integer parser of mtrudel bandit allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to consume server CPU via a content-length value or a Host or :authority port made of thousands of digits.

Bandit.Headers.parse_integer/2 in lib/bandit/headers.ex builds the number one digit at a time with no limit on the digit count, allocating a new bignum at each step, so one value costs time quadratic in its length. It runs on raw request input over HTTP/1 and HTTP/2, before any range check. Over HTTP/2, a 4,000-digit value can be stored once in the HPACK dynamic table and re-sent on each new stream for about one byte: 124 KB of traffic kept the server busy for 27.9 s.

This issue affects bandit: from 1.0.0-pre.7 before 1.14.0.

Details

1. Unbounded digit loop. Bandit.Headers.parse_integer/2 in lib/bandit/headers.ex builds the number with total * 10 + digit - ?0 and has no limit on the digit count. Each step allocates a new bignum, so parsing one value costs O(n²). On OTP 28, 10,000 digits take about 10 ms, 50,000 about 250 ms and 80,000 about 560 ms, where String.to_integer/1 handles the same inputs in 1 to 3 ms.

2. Reached on raw input. It is called from get_content_length/1 and parse_hostlike_header!/1 on raw request input, before any range check. An all-digit content-length is returned as {:ok, huge_int}, and the is_port_number guard only runs after the whole number is built.

3. HPACK amplification. Over HTTP/2, a 4,000-digit value (about 1.1 ms to parse) can be stored once in the HPACK dynamic table and then re-sent on each new stream for about one byte.

Proof of concept

1. Run Bandit with any Plug.
2. Open an HTTP/2 connection with prior knowledge and complete the SETTINGS exchange.
3. In one write, send 5,000 HEADERS frames for POST / on new streams, each carrying a content-length of 4,000 9 digits encoded with HPACK indexing, so that every frame after the first refers to the stored value.
4. The 124,003 bytes take 27.9 s to process before all 5,000 requests reach the Plug.

Impact

An unauthenticated client can make the server spend CPU time out of all proportion to the traffic it sends (27.9 s for 124 KB in the reporter's test). This affects any Bandit server reachable by untrusted clients over HTTP/1 or HTTP/2, with no special configuration.