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GHSA-r53p-7pc4-xj5r CVE-2026-18540

undici vulnerable to downstream response splitting via retry interceptor

Low npm
Severity
3.7 / 10
Low · CVSS 3.1
Exploit chance (EPSS)
0.31%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 23.79% of scored vulnerabilities.
Known exploited
No
Not in CISA's catalog
Weakness
CWE-444 Inconsistent Interpretation of HTTP Requests ('HTTP Request/Response Smuggling')
Fix
6.28.1
Upgrade undici to this version or later

Description

Impact

Undici's interceptors.retry() can resume a request after a partial response and append the resumed bytes to an already partially delivered body, while the application still receives the original response's status and headers. When that response carried a Content-Length, the application can receive a longer body. Applications that forward Undici's status, headers, and body downstream without recalculating framing, for example proxy or gateway applications, may emit a response whose body exceeds the forwarded Content-Length, and the excess bytes can be read as the start of a subsequent HTTP response (downstream response splitting or desynchronization).

For example, a 404 Not Found with Content-Length: 2 that sends one byte then closes can be resumed with an open-ended Range request, and the resumed 206 Partial Content bytes are appended, so the application receives more than two body bytes while still seeing Content-Length: 2. The bug requires interceptors.retry() enabled, an attacker-controlled or faulty upstream, and a downstream forwarder that does not recalculate Content-Length.

Patches

Patched in undici v6.28.1, v7.29.1, and v8.10.2. Upgrade to one of these or later.

Workarounds

  • Disable interceptors.retry() for untrusted upstreams, or set maxRetries: 0.
  • Remove or recalculate Content-Length before forwarding a response body assembled by Undici.

Affected versions

npm

PackageVulnerableFixed in
undici
< 6.28.1
6.28.1
undici
>= 7.0.0, < 7.29.1
7.29.1
undici
>= 8.0.0, < 8.10.2
8.10.2
undici
< 6.28.1
6.28.1
undici
>= 7.0.0, < 7.29.1
7.29.1
undici
>= 8.0.0, < 8.10.2
8.10.2

How to fix

Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.

undici npm → 6.28.1

npm
npm install undici@6.28.1
yarn
yarn add undici@6.28.1
pnpm
pnpm add undici@6.28.1

Severity breakdown

CVSS 3.1 3.7

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

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
High
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

Weakness

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

The product acts as an intermediary HTTP agent (such as a proxy or firewall) in the data flow between two entities such as a client and server, but it does not interpret malformed HTTP requests or responses in ways that are consistent with how the messages will be processed by those entities that are at the ultimate destination.

How to prevent it
  • Implementation: Use a web server that employs a strict HTTP parsing procedure, such as Apache [REF-433].
  • Implementation: Use only SSL communication.
  • Implementation: Terminate the client session after each request.
  • System Configuration: Turn all pages to non-cacheable.

References

Timeline

  1. Published
  2. Last updated by the source
  3. Latest EPSS score
AdvisorySeverityWhy it's related
GHSA-55wc-3pg8-jfw6
undici vulnerable to Denial of Service via unhandled exception in the decompress interceptor
High Also affects undici
GHSA-qrxm-fqhp-jwvm
undici vulnerable to Denial of Service via TLS 1.2 certificate-changing renegotiation
High Also affects undici
GHSA-9fm3-97px-rjf6
undici WebSocket client vulnerable to Denial of Service via unbounded automatic PONG buffering
High Also affects undici
GHSA-4qv8-2p9j-2685
undici vulnerable to Denial of Service via unbounded memory in the EventSource parser
High Also affects undici
GHSA-xjj6-f33q-929c
undici vulnerable to Denial of Service via unhandled error on excessive content-encodings
High Also affects undici
GHSA-f72v-6w45-q472
undici vulnerable to Subresource Integrity bypass via non-lowercase algorithm tokens
High Also affects undici
GHSA-4w7w-5xrc-9h26
undici vulnerable to cache poisoning and cross-user disclosure via cross-origin redirects
Critical Also affects undici
GHSA-2m5v-pch6-74hx
undici vulnerable to TLS certificate validation bypass via dropped tls options in Agent
Critical Also affects undici

Credits: UlisesGascon, mcollina, samuel871211

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