CVE-2026-63382: libevent HTTP Request/Response Smuggling

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-63382 is a critical (CVSS 9.2) HTTP Request/Response Smuggling vulnerability in libevent. EPSS estimates a 0.78% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 55.3% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 20-08-2026
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 20-08-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

Libevent is an event notification library. Prior to 2.1.13 and 2.2.2-alpha, the libevent evhttp parser in http.c inconsistently handles duplicate Transfer-Encoding headers, comma-separated Transfer-Encoding values, and bare line feeds in chunked framing. evhttp_find_header can select only the first header, evhttp_check_transfer_encoding_ was absent so the previous whole-string comparison fails to recognize valid lists ending in chunked, and evhttp_handle_chunked_read uses EVBUFFER_EOL_CRLF rather than EVBUFFER_EOL_CRLF_STRICT, accepting bare LF chunk terminators. When libevent is deployed behind a proxy that frames the same request differently, an unauthenticated remote attacker can desynchronize request boundaries and smuggle a second request, potentially bypassing access controls or poisoning caches. This issue is fixed in versions 2.1.13 and 2.2.2-alpha.

• CWE-444Inconsistent 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.