CVE-2021-21299: Multiple Transfer-Encoding headers misinterprets request payload
hyper is an open-source HTTP library for Rust (crates.io). In hyper from version 0.12.0 and before versions 0.13.10 and 0.14.3 there is a vulnerability that can enable a request smuggling attack. The HTTP server code had a flaw that incorrectly understands some requests with multiple transfer-encoding headers to have a chunked payload, when it should have been rejected as illegal. This combined with an upstream HTTP proxy that understands the request payload boundary differently can result in "request smuggling" or "desync attacks". To determine if vulnerable, all these things must be true: 1) Using hyper as an HTTP server (the client is not affected), 2) Using HTTP/1.1 (HTTP/2 does not use transfer-encoding), 3) Using a vulnerable HTTP proxy upstream to hyper. If an upstream proxy correctly rejects the illegal transfer-encoding headers, the desync attack cannot succeed. If there is no proxy upstream of hyper, hyper cannot start the desync attack, as the client will repair the headers before forwarding. This is fixed in versions 0.14.3 and 0.13.10. As a workaround one can take the following options: 1) Reject requests that contain a transfer-encoding header, 2) Ensure any upstream proxy handles transfer-encoding correctly.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the severity of CVE-2021-21299?
CVE-2021-21299 has been classified as a medium severity vulnerability.
How do I fix CVE-2021-21299?
To resolve CVE-2021-21299, you should update hyper to version 0.13.10 or later, or to 0.14.3 or later.
What type of attack can CVE-2021-21299 facilitate?
CVE-2021-21299 can enable a request smuggling attack due to a flaw in how certain HTTP requests are handled.
Which versions of hyper are affected by CVE-2021-21299?
CVE-2021-21299 affects hyper versions from 0.12.0 to 0.13.10 and from 0.14.0 to 0.14.3.
Is CVE-2021-21299 related to specific programming languages?
CVE-2021-21299 specifically affects the Rust programming language due to vulnerabilities in the hyper library.