DEBIAN-CVE-2021-21295

Advisory lineage Upstream: 1 Downstream: 1
Upstream
Downstream
Published: 09 Mar 2021, 19:15
Last modified:28 Apr 2026, 20:22

Vulnerability Summary

Overall Risk (default)
low
24/100
CVSS Score
5.9 MEDIUM
3.1 (osv_debian)
EPSS Score
No data
KEV
Not listed
Ransomware
No reports
Public exploits
None found
Dark Web
Not detected

Timeline

09 Mar 2021, 19:15
Published
Vulnerability first disclosed
28 Apr 2026, 20:22
Last Modified
Vulnerability information updated

Description

Netty is an open-source, asynchronous event-driven network application framework for rapid development of maintainable high performance protocol servers & clients. In Netty (io.netty:netty-codec-http2) before version 4.1.60.Final there is a vulnerability that enables request smuggling. If a Content-Length header is present in the original HTTP/2 request, the field is not validated by `Http2MultiplexHandler` as it is propagated up. This is fine as long as the request is not proxied through as HTTP/1.1. If the request comes in as an HTTP/2 stream, gets converted into the HTTP/1.1 domain objects (`HttpRequest`, `HttpContent`, etc.) via `Http2StreamFrameToHttpObjectCodec `and then sent up to the child channel's pipeline and proxied through a remote peer as HTTP/1.1 this may result in request smuggling. In a proxy case, users may assume the content-length is validated somehow, which is not the case. If the request is forwarded to a backend channel that is a HTTP/1.1 connection, the Content-Length now has meaning and needs to be checked. An attacker can smuggle requests inside the body as it gets downgraded from HTTP/2 to HTTP/1.1. For an example attack refer to the linked GitHub Advisory. Users are only affected if all of this is true: `HTTP2MultiplexCodec` or `Http2FrameCodec` is used, `Http2StreamFrameToHttpObjectCodec` is used to convert to HTTP/1.1 objects, and these HTTP/1.1 objects are forwarded to another remote peer. This has been patched in 4.1.60.Final As a workaround, the user can do the validation by themselves by implementing a custom `ChannelInboundHandler` that is put in the `ChannelPipeline` behind `Http2StreamFrameToHttpObjectCodec`.

CVSS Metrics

  • v3.1MEDIUMScore: 5.9CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Affected Systems

  • debiannetty

    < 1:4.1.48-3 | < 1:4.1.48-3 | < 1:4.1.48-3 | < 1:4.1.48-3

References (1)